A Digital Nightmare
by A Whiny Attention Whore
Summary: A will be full re-upload of an ancient wacky crossover fic that was inspired by friends of mine and my love of certain fandoms. It involves Digimon, Captain Planet, and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, and was originally written as a complete joke!
1. Chapter 1: The Nightmare Begins

**Disclaimer: **Yada, yada. Author does not take any claim of ownership over characters, products, places, or basically anything else presented in this story, made up or not. Also I have no real sentimental ties to any of the original characters or fan characters contained in the story but a large portion of 'em aren't mine, they're my friends used with permission, so please try not to steal. (though there's really nothing I can do if you do.)

**Author's Pre-note:** This fic was originally thought up sometime late January of 2003 and finally written in full around March 2004. (Egads, that's a long time to pull off a crapfic, eh? Well, it's a _long_ crapfic.) Only the first two chapters were ever even put up online, and briefly at that, right here on FFdotnet, then eventually taken down due to a bad case of "personal apathy" and because the fic seemed waaay too cracked out even for me at the time! Also, it had a lot of typos and crap, I noticed. (Which I have since fixed up.)

Because recently I'd been feeling really nostalgic and lurking around the place, I decided to do a fic dump because a couple of my twisted friends were itching to read the horrible fics I'd written and kept saying I was gonna put back up one day. So...here's one of 'em.

Yes, this fic was kinda just a poorly thought out cheap shot attempt at bringing back my favorite villain, Surd, after the events of 'Thoughtscape'. My horrible plot device is, YES...Digimon. And the crazier crap is still to come in the following chapters. :D Sorry if my writing sucks. I don't claim to write well at all, I just barely attempt and this was created years and years ago anyway.

Like I mentioned, this fic is a complete crackfic-crossover and not meant to be taken seriously at all! (And this statement wasn't even in the disclaimer before when it was first up, so god help the people who thought this fic was for _real_. 0_o;)

The reader assumes all responsibility for damage or mental anguish incurred whilst reading this tripe.

**You have been warned! **:D

* * *

A Digital Nightmare

**Chapter 1**

Bell Isle Asylum...

Two white-coated doctors were in the dimly lit grey walled room looking over their recent admission. The short, heavyset doctor with glasses shined the pen light into the eyes of the old man sitting in the bulky electronic wheelchair in front of him while his partner observed and jotted down notes onto a clipboard.

"Still no response."

The old man's eyes were unmoving, fixed and staring blankly as the light passed. A small amount of drool was trickling from the corner of his mouth.

The heavyset doctor frowned as he shut off the light and placed it back into his coat pocket then casually folded his arms. "Well, it's been six weeks already. Doesn't look like he's coming out of it anytime soon."

"I suppose he won't cause any more trouble then, huh?" came the dry response of his fellow doctor.

The two then shared a light laugh.

"Guess not!" the heavyset doctor affirmed as the two then headed for the door.

"Hey, let's get some lunch!"

"Sounds good."

The sound of the door closing echoed through the virtually empty room. It went all but unnoticed to Jeremiah Surd, his mind still trapped within the confines of a disabled Questworld program.

10101

"I'll kill them. I will kill them all! I swear to it! I'll...I'll..."

The threats trailed off into incoherent mumbling once again. All Surd could do was rant and rave hysterically to himself. He knew he was beginning to slowly descend into madness, as much as he wanted to prevent it.

Thanks to Jessie Bannon he was now trapped not only inside an unnervingly empty and pitch-black Questworld subspace but within his own real world crippled body as well. He couldn't move. He couldn't call for help. He couldn't free himself. All he could do was rage helplessly into the darkness, endlessly cursing those who had put him into this living hell.

"I swear it, somehow! Somehow, Quest! Bannon! I'll pay you back!"

Surd let of a long peel of mad laughter. He was sure that the longer he remained like this, the sooner he would lose his mind once and for all.

Unknown to him back in the real world, a storm raged outside.

The sky cracked with thunder and bursts of lightning flashed through the clouds like cameras going off at a news conference. Suddenly, one peculiar bolt of lightning came streaking down into the waters surrounding the island. The bizarre light was seemingly no lightning bolt at all as it abruptly changed direction before hitting the waves and streaked across the water's surface with blinding speed. The light sped from the water up the cliff side and then along the ground, making it's way right toward the asylum.

Back inside the building, two security guards were in the monitor room playing cards. Suddenly the lights dimmed and flickered. The monitors briefly became filled with static as well.

"Whoa! Power outage?" the first guard leaned forward in his chair and looked around.

"Good thing for that backup generator," noted the second guard while checking that the monitors were back to normal.

Meanwhile, still outside, the mysterious light had found its way to the power lines leading to the building's interior. It snaked its way through them and right into the chains of overhead lights that lined the hallway ceilings. The ceiling lights began to flicker and then pop as it passed through. The light kept going until it reached the last hallway leading to a particular room where it then passed from the ceiling lights to the cement floor and quickly slipped under the door. There, it slowed and drifted to the electric wheelchair sitting in the middle of the room.

"Bannon..." Surd muttered.

His eyes were shut. The world he was trapped in didn't seem so dark with his eyes closed.

A sound made him pop them back open.

"Huh? What was that?"

He was certain he'd heard something. He listened intently for a moment. Sure enough, there was some kind of low electronic humming. Surd's eyes darted around in confusion as he looked for the source of the noise. He could see nothing from his current position. If only he could move to look around...

Just then the blackened space began to flash and crackle with a streak of red light. Surd's eyes widened.

"What's going on?" he wondered aloud.

Could it be somebody attempting to free him?

"Julia!" he yelled into the pitch black.

Surd waited. He got no response. The red streaks continued to slice through the pitch-black space every now and then. Surd was becoming nervous now.

Could it be somebody attempting to finish him off? Attempting to erase his mind from existence completely? Were the Quests deleting him? Cleaning him like a quarantined virus?

"No...NO! It can't end like this! I won't let it! I won't let you-"

He was cut off in mid-sentence by another strange noise.

"Who's there?" Surd called out to the darkness.

His eyes scanned the empty blackness around him but saw nothing within. However, it suddenly felt like someone...or something...was there. He could swear he felt a presence. An ominous presence.

_"S...UUUU...R...R...R...RRRD."_

The voice was indeed ominous. The very sound of it chilled Surd, even though he had no physical attachment to his body any longer. Somehow, it just chilled his mind. It was deep and seemed to be everywhere, fading in and out with a strange echo as it came.

"Who's there?"

Surd asked the darkness once again.

"_I...KNOW...WH...A...AAAAT...YOU...W...AANT_."

The voice sounded somehow closer this time.

"Oh, do you?" Surd inquired suspiciously. He listened carefully, attempting to judge where the sound was coming from. "And what would that be, pray tell?" he said softly.

Without warning, the red streaks of light suddenly flashed around his wheelchair-bound body. Surd gasped as the chair disappeared from beneath him and he was once again back in his VR form standing on two feet. Surd blinked in surprise, raising his hands in front of him and looking himself over nearly in disbelief.

"My...my body! I can move again!" Surd exclaimed.

Now able to do so, Surd looked around. He still saw nothing and no one.

"Who are you? How did you-"

"_YOU...CAN...D...EEESSSSTRRROY...THEM...I WILL GRA...A...NT...YOU...POWER_."

The bizarre voice seemed almost to be coming from behind Surd now.

He turned around to see a single red eye glowing through the darkness, almost burning into him with a maddening intensity. The light coming from it was so intense Surd squinted and held up a hand in front of his eye.

"Eh? So you _do_ know me, then, do you?"

Surd backed up slightly torn between trying to see into the light to observe what was communicating to him from within and trying not to go blind from staring into it.

"But what are you?"

"_ALL...WILL...BE...R...E...VEAAALED...IF...YOU FRRRREEEEE ME...FROM...THIS...PRISSSON_."

"All right. I'm listening! What do I have to do then?" Surd clenched his fists, feeling a rush of renewed vigor course through him.

The red eye flashed and grew even more intense causing Surd to bring his hand back to re shade his eyes once again. This time a force came from the spot where the eye was and Surd braced himself against it so as not to be flung off his feet.

"_COME...W...IIIIITH...ME_."

The voice boomed as the red lights swirled around Surd again. The darkness around him grew to a bright red and Surd swallowed, wondering what was going to happen as it engulfed him.

10101

The entire building had officially gone dark. The backup generator had apparently gone out as well.

Several Belle Island Asylum security guards were now roaming the hallways with flashlights, making sure all cell and room doors were locked and their patients safely confined within. The pair that had previously been playing cards in the monitor room now walked toward Jeremiah Surd's room. The door was open slightly.

One of the guards opened the door and walked into the room to check on Surd while his partner looked on outside. He walked around to the front of Surd's wheelchair and noticed Surd was bleeding from the corner of his mouth.

"What the hell? Oh shit!"

The guard panicked. He reached out and touched Surd's neck, feeling for a pulse. He couldn't find one.

"Hey! Call the doctors! We got something wrong in here! He's bleeding and not breathing!"

His partner outside raced off to get help.

Moments later, several of the medical staff and two head doctors were gathered around Surd. They had tried for nearly twenty minutes to resuscitate him and all attempts had failed.

"No good."

One of the paramedics confirmed as he shook his head.

"He's dead."

10101

The Quest compound: Palm Key, Maine

Jonny and Hadji were preoccupied with checking the system for bugs after Questworld had seemingly shut down by itself, kicking Jonny and Jessie out moments earlier.

"This is most unusual. There is nothing wrong with the system itself," Hadji said as he closed the last circuit box.

"Yeah, usually when there was a problem in Questworld all signs pointed to Surd. Without him in the picture anymore, it's hard to tell what's wrong," Jonny said, arms folded.

The monitor behind them suddenly came on, showing only static. The sound of the snow filled the otherwise quiet room causing them all to turn towards in in surprise. It was soon after that laughter rang out from within. The teens jumped at the same time, knowing exactly whose laughter it was but not believing it.

"No...No way! That's Surd!" Jonny shouted, balling up his fists and glaring into the monitor with disbelief.

"It can't be!" Jessie looked both shocked and angered. "That's impossible! I-"

"Hahaha! Well if it isn't my dear Jessie Bannon and her little friends."

The snow disappeared and the monitor displayed a clear picture of Jeremiah Surd. However, he seemed visibly altered from his previously recognizable Questworld version. His familiar white visage had a bit more pointed angular look and his black hair seemed much longer than it should have been, spilling over his shoulders and down his back. Also, his eyes, which would have normally in his Questworld VR state have been an opaque green, were an eerie deep shade of red. The combination of these altered features along with his already menacing maniacal grin made him look even more sinister. Almost rather demonic.

"I must admit, I was sort of missing you all. We did have some fun times together. That was until you tried imprisoning me in that broken shell!" Surd pointed a sharp looking almost claw-like black finger forward at them.

"How the heck did you get out, Surd?" Jonny demanded.

"Well, truthfully, I'm not really sure of that myself," Surd responded and gave a menacing laugh.

But here I am, back and better than ever! And the person in charge of my breakout even made me an offer I couldn't resist! Getting rid of all of YOU!" he curled his hand into a fist.

"Ugh, somebody change the channel. We've seen this a million times already," Jonny scoffed and waved a hand casually. "I'm getting really tired of you, Surd."

"We all are!" Jessie spat.

"Er, my friends...do you not think that this is a bit unusual?" Hadji suddenly spoke up.

Jessie realized it as well now.

"That's right! If Questworld is down for us then how the heck is Surd still able to communicate over it? He must have taken control of the system!"

"The old man just doesn't know when to quit, does he?" said Jonny.

"Haha! Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not in your precious little Questworld. Questworld is utter garbage compared to this new world I've been introduced to!"

Surd spread his arms out and the image of himself in the monitor faded out, giving the befuddled teens a glimpse of some strange and otherworldly looking place.

"Huh! So, you've gone and created your own virtual reality world then? Looks as twisted as you are, old man," Jonny retorted.

"Haha. I'm just borrowing it for a while, boy. But I'll use it to my advantage while I'm here. Allow me to show you its power!" Surd grinned viciously. "Now, my Nightmare warriors! Come forth and show these arrogant little children their place...in _my _new world! Bwahahahaha!"

Surd thrust out his hand toward the screen, which then flashed red and then seemed to shatter outward. The three teens stepped back in shock as several large figures came through the monitor screen and landed on the ground close by.

The shadowy creature that lumbered towards them first appeared to be some sort of dragon...red in color, with black wings on its back and a long blade-like horn on its snout. The beast was about 7 feet tall, standing upright on hind legs. Its eyes were pools of empty black.

The second figure to emerge was another large dragon. This one was considerably larger than the first and gray in color. It sported a crown of horns that partially encircled its head, a mane of flame-like hair, orange and black leather wings, and long red claws on both its dragonish hands and feet. The beast's eyes were blood red and pupiless. In its hands it gripped a large metal trident. A wicked grin on its lips exposed its fang-filled mouth.

Nothing could prepare the teens for what happened next as the beast spoke.

"Time to die!" It raised the trident into the air and lunged forward.

"FIRE AND BRIMSTONE!"

The teens screamed in unison as a huge ball of flames burst from the monster's weapon tip and hurled straight at them.


	2. Chapter 2: Start of the Worst Day Ever

A Digital Nightmare

**Chapter ****2**

Two hours later: Los Angeles, California. 8:25 am

A bus packed with bored and belligerent students drove towards its destination in the 90 degree heat.

Hidden in the back of the bus near the luggage area, struggling against the sweltering heat of the covers on top of him was a strange dinosaur-like creature. On a nearby seat sat an aggravated looking teen with spiked up red hair and a pair of yellow goggles. He was dressed rather plainly in a simple blue t-shirt and khaki shorts. His eyes were closed and it looked like he was trying to get some rest.

"Takato...I'm hungry," the red creature's nose poked out from the covers he was hidden under as it spoke. "Can I have a lunchbox?"

The teen repositioned himself in his seat, placing his hands behind his head. His eyes remained closed.

"No, Guilmon. We have to save some for the rest of the trip, you know. There'll be plenty of time to eat when we get off this stinkin' bus. Man, it's so hot in here."

"No kidding. And you guys have been saying the same things over and over for the past two hours."

Another teenage boy with short brown hair sat in another nearby seat . He was dressed casually as well and appeared to be holding what looked like a large tan colored stuffed rabbit in his arms. Despite appearing rabbit-like with its long floppy ears, the animal had a horn jutting quite prominently out of its forehead, and green markings on its ears and chest.

"Ugh. When do we get where we're going, Henry? I'm getting stiff!" the strange rabbitish creature spoke. It was looking twitchy from having to pretend to be a 'doll' for the entire two hours aboard the bus so far.

"Sorry, Terriormon. It's not my fault the place we're going is so far away they made this a whole day trip." Henry sighed.

"I hope this dumb museum isn't really as dumb as I think it's gonna be," Takato groaned as he leaned back and rested his feet on the seat in front of him.

"What was it called again?"

Henry looked over to the pamphlet guide folded neatly on the seat beside him.

"Um...the Turner Museum of Ecological Awareness and Defense."

After a long moment of silence Takato burst out laughing.

"Sounds so bad, it's going to _have _to be fun!" Takato wiped sweat from his eye and put his feet back on the floor, having become uncomfortable even in a resting position. "Urhg. So what exactly is the Turner museum got that's so special?"

Takato's ears picked up the voices of some girls chatting in the bus seats not far away. He didn't even really hear Henry start reading from the pamphlet with a genuine interest, instead focusing on the girls' conversation.

A girl with light brown hair tied behind her in a long braid held a matching pamphlet and was pointing things of interest to her companions.

"This is the place that's got tons of info on saving out environment! Plus we get the chance to see the real live Planet Soldiers there!" she said happily.

She beamed with an energetic and bouncy glee. Around her neck was a golden chain with an anhk. She was clad in a typical schoolgirl uniform although it was black and white in color and had a distinctive type of 'Gothic Lolita' look to it.

Beside her, another girl with short blond hair, wearing a white tank top and black pants spoke up.

"Omigod, you guys. This is sooo cool. I can't wait to meet the red haired soldier guy. He's so my favorite! He's hot!" she whispered into the other's ear and they both giggled.

Staring out the window looking very enthused was a third girl. Her hair was red and shoulder length. She was wearing blue jeans and a black t-shirt bearing white lettering that read "Mean people suck..." and on the back it read, "and then they DIE." The word 'die' being in red with comical spurts of blood dripping from it and a cartoony looking knife underneath.

"Oh joy of joys. Maybe we'll even get to meet the great "Mr. Sparkle" himself," she said sarcastically and popped open her cd player, rummaging through her backpack for another cd while the other girls resumed giggling.

"This trip sucks already and we haven't even gotten there yet," said the only boy in the group of friends.

He had shaggy black hair and was wearing a black silk shirt with flames embroidered on it over a regular white t-shirt. His shorts bore brown and green fatigue pattern.

"All the more to look forward to!" the girl in jeans said with a grin. She then noticed the boy in back of her peering over the seat. "Uh...hi?"

Takato blushed sheepishly realizing she had spotted him being nosy. He was looking quite awkward.

"Uh...ah. Uh, hi! Heh. I was just...uh...sorry!"

He quickly came over from behind the seat and sat down next to her, hand behind his head.

"I was just looking at your sketchbook over there on the seat," Takato admitted and pointed to the open sketchbook that had a detailed picture of a Digimon of some sort in it.

The girl smiled. "Oh yeah. Um...you wanna see it?" she asked picking it up.

"Sure!" Takato replied and accepted the book. He flipped through the pages slowly, enjoying the works.

"Wow...these are good!"

"Thanks," the girl said rather modestly.

"So...you like Digimon and stuff, huh?" Takato looked at her eagerly, hoping to start up a conversation.

"Yeah! Stuff like that is wicked. You like that kinda thing too?"

Takato grinned and nodded his head. He'd found another person to pass time with on this trip. He wished he could show off Guilmon to her. If she loved Digimon, boy, would she get a kick out of him! But then again...a kick like Gilmon might be a little _too _much. After all, that's why Guilmon was hidden in the back of the bus, so as not to attract attention. Having a living, breathing, dinosaurian creature from another world in public usually caused a panic in most other humans. He sure didn't want to go through anything like he had gone through when he was back in grade school upon first meeting real life Digimon.

After a long while of discussing a few video games and showing some pictures he'd drawn of Guilmon to her, he realized he hadn't even gotten her name yet.

"Oh yeah. My name's Takato! Heh. I forgot to introduce myself," he said with a smile.

"Oh yeah! Me too, me too. My name's Reina. Oh, and these guys are my friends: Elsea, Lisa, and Josh."

She pointed in order to the girl with the braid, the blond girl, and the black haired boy.

"Nice to meet you guys. Oh yeah!" Takato had almost forgotten about Henry, still sitting farther in the back with Terriormon on the seat next to him. "That's my friend Henry. We-"

Takato stopped talking, noticing Reina had vanished. He blinked in momentary confusion and looked around.

"Uh?"

Upon turning, he gasped as he saw the girl standing over Henry, who was dosing off with the pamphlet over his face, and observing Terriormon.

"Oh no!"

Takato stumbled over the seat and rushed to the back of the bus to stop the girl before she poked at Terriormon and found out he wasn't just a cute doll.

"Wait, Reina! Uh...don't!" he called out, and nearly tripped over a kid's backpack that was in the aisle.

"Oh COOOOL! A Terriormon!" Reina exclaimed, holding the startled Digimon in her hands. "I've never seen a real one up close before! He's sooo cute!" she was clutching him so tightly in her excitement, the poor Digimon's face had turned blue.

"Oops! I'm sorry l'il guy!" Reina loosened her happiness-induced death-grip after feeling him start to struggle.

"Ugh...thanks! I enjoy hugs, but can you be a little more gentle? It's been a long bus ride," Terriormon said weakly.

Takato blinked, a look of shock and confusion on his face.

"But...but...how do you...I mean...real one? Up close? You know he's real?" he struggled for words.

By now Henry had woken up with the commotion and opened his eyes to see a strange girl holding Terriormon. He sat straight up. His eyes went to Takato, who was standing next to the girl, scratching his head.

"Of course I know he's REAL, silly! I'm a tamer!" Reina turned and faced Takato again, still holding Terriormon.

"Whoa, did I miss something? I always miss everything. What just happened?" Henry eyed the others with equal confusion.

"You're a tamer too?" Takato said in amazement, his eyes beginning to brighten.

"Yeah," Reina replied. "We all are!"

She let Terriormon bounce out of her arms and sit back on the bus seat next to a still very confused looking Henry.

"All right, Henry, new tamers!" Terriormon said happily.

"Wow, you guys are tamers?" Takato said after watching Reina pull out a small silver Digivice to show to him. It had a black design that vaguely resembled an "X" on it.

"Yes, "Elsea spoke up. "Wow, It's so awesome we met some new tamers! What a day!" She clapped her hands and continued, "I was beginning to think we were the only tamers in this whole city."

"So...you guys are tamers. Where's your Digimon?" Takato asked.

Reina tapped her Digivice.

"Right here, of course!"

"Takato blinked. "You mean...they're _in_ your Digivice?" he asked with some obvious confusion, staring at it.

Reina nodded. "Yeah," she responded and laughed. "I mean, it's a heck of a lot easier keeping the big ones stored there than lug 'em around, right?" She looked at Takato, who seemed baffled. "What, you don't like to keep yours stored? It's not like they're gonna get "Pokeball" syndrome or somethin'...haha!"

"Uh, actually..." Takato began.

These tamers were sure different from Henry and him. Odd, but also interesting.

"Takato," Guilmon's voice came from behind.

Takato turned around, seeing Guilmon standing out in the open, the cover draped over his head.

"Um...can I come out now, Takato?"

10101

The bus finally eased to a stop in the large parking lot along side a few other buses. The moderate ruckus grew even louder with students chatting, complaining, and stretching. At long last, two and a half hours later, they'd arrived.

"Finally! My ass is asleep!" Josh grumbled as he got up and stretched his aching legs.

Reina and Lisa gathered up their stuff and placed the items into their backpacks. Elsea was busy pointing out where they'd have to go on the guidebook. Takato put several of his things back into his own backpack as Guilmon yawned behind him.

Henry was peering out the window. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong all of a sudden. He scanned the streets for a while. They were pretty much empty. Cars were parked along the curbs but there wasn't any traffic anywhere. He assumed the streets could have been closed off especially for the museum, but there would at least have been people walking around on such a nice sunny day.

"Where is everybody?" Henry wondered out loud.

Terriormon popped up beside him to look out the window as well. Tossing an ear behind his head, he turned to Henry and spoke, "Maybe they're already at that place we're supposed to be going?"

"All right, let's go!" the deep voice of the driver called from the head of the bus. Students began filing out.

"Okay, Guilmon. You're gonna have to go out the back. Wait for me and Henry there, okay? And don't do anything suspicious!" Takato said, opening the back door of the bus enough for Guilmon to get out..

"Okay, Takato!" Guilmon replied and squeezed through.

Takato sighed and wiped the sweat off his forehead. It was hard enough smuggling him onto the bus in the first place. He sure wished he had one of those X-Digivices.

Outside, several large groups of students had formed around, as typical high school teens on boring field trips tend to do. Most were chatting and laughing loudly, the rest were sorting out their belongings and some were even sitting on the ground looking bored already.

Elsea and Lisa were surveying the area, noticing the same absence of activity that Henry had before. By now even the driver and three of the teachers had noticed that there was nobody around to greet them upon arrival and let them know where to go.

"How about that! Well, now that is very annoying, " a tall male teacher with glasses said. He stood next to a skinny, blond haired, female teacher.

"You get what you pay for these days. Besides, school trips aren't supposed to be fun anymore," she said casually.

Takato was off the bus with the rest of the group. He headed for the back of the bus to meet Guilmon. Henry was just stepping off the bus with Terriormon's head poking out of his half zipped backpack. Reina and Josh were the last ones ones left on the bus. Josh was still hanging in the doorway, grimacing. Reina slung her backpack over her shoulder and made her way to the head of the bus, giving one last glance out the windows. Suddenly she thought she saw something out the window and did a brief double take. She thought she had seen a very large bird flying above a building a block away. Now she wasn't exactly sure of it, but that was still pretty weird. She narrowed her eyes for a second but then put it out of mind and continued out of the bus.

Back outside Henry realized that there were actually a few people roaming the streets. He just must not have noticed them. Maybe there was nothing to worry about after all.

Then there was a scream from one of the students.

"Oh my God, what IS that?" a girl's voice shouted above the crowds.

The students all turned and looked towards where she was thrusting her finger and began yelling and whooping it up, several more girls screaming just to go along with the crowd.

There was a rather large object flying around above the buildings nearby. It looked like a huge black bird. Henry and Terriormon's eyes locked on it at the same time.

"Henry...is that a Digimon?" Terriormon asked, his eyes never straying from the bird as it continued circling above the buildings.

Henry turned and looked for Takato. "...I dunno!"

His Digivice wasn't reacting. He took Terriormon and hurried behind the bus in search of Takato and Guilmon.

"Hey Takato...Takato!"

He found them behind a phone booth, Takato trying to pry a lunchbox from Guilmon's jaws.

"No Guilmon, that's not even ours! Where'd you get that from! I told you not to so through other people's stuff!" he yelled and fell backwards as Guilmon reluctantly opened his jaws.

"Whaaaarg!"

*THUD*

"Sorry Takato...I was just so hungry," Guilmon said innocently, cocking his head to the side, then looked straight again as he saw Henry and Terriormon approach.

"Hey Takato! There's something I think you should see! I thought I felt something wrong here!"

Henry ran up, Terriormon leaping from his arms and onto the sidewalk next to Takato. Takato sat up, rubbing his back.

"Ow...damn. Huh? What's wrong?" Takato noticed the other tamers walking over to them now as well. "Hey! What's going on you guys?"

"We were gonna ask you guys the same thing," Reina said, "because there is something _really _weird going on here right now. I just can't put my finger on it yet."

"Uh...you mean like...everybody's gone!" Josh suddenly said as he walked a ways out from the bus, staring back at where the crowd of onlookers had been moments before.

"Huh?" Takato and Henry both exclaimed at the same time.

Everybody really _was_ gone.

The bus was abandoned, the surrounding area with no trace of the rest of the students. No teachers...no bus driver. Nobody.

"What the hell? Where did they all go so damn fast?" Lisa said in a worried tone. She flinched as a pulsing glow came from her pocket, startled. "Crap! Now what?" She pulled out her Digivice.

"Hey, mine's reacting too!" Reina said, seeing the glow coming from her backpack.

"Mine too!" Elsea displayed her Digivice as well.

Josh's pocket was glowing off and on the same. There had to be a Digimon nearby...and not a friendly one, either.

"Its gotta be that bird," Reina said looking towards the sky.

There was no trace of the large bird this time, but their Digivices were still reacting, so there was still possible danger in the area.

Guilmon sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything. Except lunches."

"Now is not the time, Guilmon," Takato groaned.

**THUD**

The group jumped and turned upon hearing the sound of crunching metal.

Something had landed on top of the bus. It appeared to be an overgrown Gazimon with pupiless, empty black eyes. It snarled, revealing a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. Teeth stained with what could only be assumed as _blood_.

"Raaah! Takato, look!" Guilmon dropped the lunchbox he had just picked up and assumed a defensive stance.

Terriormon joined him and Henry stepped back, along with Elsea. Lisa gave a small scream. Reina narrowed her eyes and raised an arm out in front of her, letting her backpack slip within reach. Josh took out his Digivice from his pants pocket and held it at the ready.

"We got some company, folks!" he shouted.

Takato gasped and stood up right as the Gazimon leapt from the bus and onto the pavement below. It charged straight at him, drool flowing from its mouth. It looked crazed. Takato screamed and sprinted off, Guilmon jumped forth ready to give the evil Gazimon a taste of _Pyro Sphere_.

"Pyro Sph-"

But the charging nightmarish Digimon attacked first, shooting a ball of green flames out of its mouth. It hit Guilmon and sent him flying into the back door of the bus.

**THONK**

Guilmon hit hard and slid down from the dented-in doors of the bus rather painfully.

"UuuuuUuuUH!" Guilmon groaned, his head spinning. He then fell backwards onto the ground, out cold.

Takato skidded to a stop at a safer distance and went to Guilmon's side.

"Oh no! Guilmon! Wake up!" Takato yelled as he tried to shake the Digimon out of his unconscious state.

Terriormon didn't even get the chance to attack as the Gazimon snapped its jaws dangerously close to his head.

"YAAAA! Henry!" Terriormon screamed and scrambled on top of Henry's head. "This Digimon...I think he wants to EAT us!"

Henry gritted his teeth, his eyes wide.

"Yeah! Guys? Maybe we'd better just run! Something about this Digimon...It seems unnaturally strong!"

Just then another primal scream sounded in the distance. More of them were coming.

"Oh shit! There's like a _pack _of 'em!" Josh shouted. He raised his Digivice up. "We need to get these damn things off our backs and go find help...Solardramon!"

His Digivice shot out a beam of white light which hit the ground a ways in front of him and took shape. The swirling light shattered like a mirror breaking, revealing Josh's Digimon. Takato's Digivice couldn't read the data on the new Digimon but Josh's displayed it in full. It showed a holographic red screen swirling with white cubes and the X-Digimon, Solardramon, displayed prominently on the screen.

Solardramon: a holy dragon Digimon. He stood about 6 feet, his body structure was much like that of Guilmon's, except for very long ears that rose up from his head, and a blade-like horn in between them on the top. His body was a deep red color with a gray underbelly that started at his lower jaw and stopped down in the middle of his stomach. The lower parts of his arms and outer middle of his thighs, as well as the end of his tail, were the same gray. The very tip of his tail seemed to be on fire.

Without hesitation, Solardramon opened his mouth and attacked.

"SOLAR FLARE!"

His deep voice echoed and a huge ball of deep crimson spat out, smacking the first Gazimon square in the chest. It screeched and ran in circles, its fur burned away along with parts of its flesh. It collapsed, turned black, and vanished in a burst of scattered data. Solardramon turned to face another mutated Gazimon and attacked once again with Solar Flare, sending the beast to it's fate.

"Whoa!" Henry gasped and stared in awe.

That Digimon looked like just a Rookie but he had beaten the two freakishly over sized mutant Digimon in a snap.

"All right, I cleared a path! Lets go!" Josh waved them on and took off, Solardramon staying behind to make sure any other crazed Digimon kept their distance.

Elsea, Reina, and Lisa took off following Josh. Henry quickly did the same. Guilmon rubbed his head, waking up from his daze. Takato tugged on his arm.

"C'mon, Guilmon! Let's get the heck outta here!" Takato shouted and helped Guilmon to his feet.

"Uhh...What hit me, Takato?" Guilmon said with a groggy look as they both ran after the group.

Solardramon followed. The group ran until they reached another parking lot with several cars.

"We can ask that guy for help! Look!" Lisa pointed towards a man walking a few yards away.

They rushed to him, hoping no more bloodthirsty mutant Gazimon were on their trail.

"Hey mister, you gotta help us...we...Hey!" Henry waved his arms trying to get the guys attention, but he kept walking slowly, seemingly oblivious to them all. "Hey! HEY! Sir! Hello! A little help here!"

Henry reached the guy and finally grabbed onto his shirt, jerking him around. "Hey! We need help! People might be injured here, or dea-" Henry was stunned to see the man's eyes. They were a blank, pure white. He let go, recoiling in fear.

"What the?"

The group stopped in their tracks, realizing the guy was walking around as if in a trance...or perhaps a zombie-like state of mindlessness.

Henry swallowed hard.

_The people that were roaming around...they've been...zombified?_

He saw the few other people were also walking around slowly, going nowhere. All had blank eyes and blank stares...some were even drooling on themselves.

"Okay...Okay...don't anybody panic..." Henry clutched his head. "There's just...weird carnivorous Digimon we've never seen before roaming the streets...the rest of the field trip group's gone missing...and...everybody else is a zombie!"

"Um...this seems like a _really_ good time to panic!" Lisa whimpered, hiding behind Reina.

"What did all this? What's going on?" Takato asked aloud, his heart racing.

This was turning out to be worse than a bad field trip. It was turning out to be the field trip from hell!

"Okay, Digimon at the ready, all the rest of us!" Elsea said, holding her Digivice.

The others nodded and released their own Digimon.

Elsea shouted, "Nosfutoramon, activate!"

Lisa followed. "Keirauramon, activate!"

Reina did the same. "Kurohoshimon, activate!"

Henry and Takato raised up their Digivices.

Henry and Takato shouted, "Digi-Modify! Digivolution, activate!"

They each swiped their Digivolution cards into their Digivice card slots. Their Digivices then began to shine bright lights.

After more beams of light shot from the new tamer's Digivices, their three new Digimon appeared:

Nosfutoramon: a cat-vampire Digimon - 5 feet tall, appearing much like like a larger, slimmer version of Gatomon perhaps crossed with a bit of Renamon, light orange and white in color. It had two sets of purple bat-like wings on its back and one set on its head.

Keirauramon: an angel-flower Digimon - around three feet in height with a small chubby body, bright green in color. It had a large thick ponytail of light turquoise hair that gradually turned pink at the ends atop its head, held up in a gold band. It also had very large and floppy blue leaf-like ears with pinks tips, tied up in the same band it kept its hair in, and a puffy rabbit-like tail which was made out of pink petals.

Kurohoshimon: a virus-shadow Digimon - 4 feet or so, gray furred and bear-like in form, dressed in a black cloth-and-leather outfit reminiscent of a ninja styled garb. Around his head was a crimson headband with a sliver shuriken in the middle of it. His gloved paws sported four very sharp claws each.

"Guilmon! Digivolve to..."

Guilmon's body glowed and suddenly his flesh seemed to melt off in liquefied strips revealing a glowing pink wire frame beneath in the shape of his body. A swirling circle of light enveloped him briefly and new skin began forming over in place of his old, morphing him into a larger version of himself, with more black markings, a mane of white hair and two black-tipped horns. His claws also now had black tips.

"Growlmon!"

"Terriormon, Digivolve to..."

In the same way as Guilom had, Terriormon Digivolved into a larger, greener version of himself. He had two huge gun tipped arms and baggy blue jeans, along with a large ammunition belt draped across his chest.

"Gargomon!"

"So...what's with the people here?" Keirauramon piped up in a high pitched and child-like girl voice. "Are they sick or something?"

"They appear to be under some sort of trance," Nosfutoramon said in a voice much reminiscent of Renamon's only a bit higher pitched, as she observed the wandering few nearby.

The group didn't immediately give up hope and continued searching for anyone who might still have their brain intact.

After a while of searching, hope looked a bit scarce. The search was going nowhere. Anyone they had chanced to run into was a mindless zombie and every other place was abandoned. They stopped in front of a large building with a long pathway of stairs. Henry and Takato sat down on the bottom step. The sun was beating down on them all, making them feel even worse than they already did. Growlmon sat down in front of the stone pillar next to the stairs, finding some shade. Gargomon trudged over to Henry's side.

"Ugh. Henry? Can we take a break now?" he was practically panting.

Reina was lying on her back on the ground by the steps.

"It's so freakin' HOT. There's nobody here. Or anywhere! What the heck happened?" she covered her face with her hands and rubbed it. "This SUCKS!"

Kurohoshimon collapsed next to her as the heat was making him tired. "I agree," he said in a soft voice and rolled over onto his back. "This most definitely _sucks_."

"This's been, like, _the_ shittiest day of my life!" Lisa cried taking some spray from her purse and trying to rid the smell of B.O. from the area. "And we didn't even get to see the damn museum!"

Elsea's eyes lit up.

"Hey, wait! That's it! The museum!" She snapped her fingers.

"What about it?" Henry asked.

"Help! Maybe we can find some here! At the museum," she said and pointed behind them, up the stairs.

It was then the group realized they had in fact been resting on the steps to the very museum they had originally been going to before all hell broke loose.

"The Turner Museum for Ecological- whatever-the-heck-it-was!" Henry exclaimed and got up.

"C'mon, maybe we can at least find somebody left sane in there!" He ran up the stairs, everyone following him.

"Maybe there's some food inside, too!" Growlmon said happily and lumbered up the stairs, taking five at a time.

"And maybe best of all, the Planet Soldiers might be there! They're sure to be able to help us, or at least help us find what's going on here," Elsea added upon reaching the doors.

Henry and Takato pushed the large doors open and stepped in. The rest of the group jammed in behind. Growlmon poked his head through, finding it akward to get in, and being too hungry to keep his form, he de-Digivolved back into Guilmon.

"Ew...Takato, does it smell funny in here to you?" Guilmon said as he walked in and a strange odor hit his keen nostrils. He covered them with a clawed hand.

The others too had noticed an ugly odor that seemed to be hanging in the spacious room. Disappointingly, the building looked to be just as abandoned as all the other places.

"Come on, there has to be someone here," Reina said in frustration.

The place looked normal. All the lights were on, nothing seemed out of place or anything. A large poster on the wall read "Meet the Planet Soldiers!" Conservationist and 'Go Green' slogans and banners were seemingly everywhere. A large bronze statue of "The Great Warrior of Earth" himself stood in the lobby.

The group of teens and Digimon walked around into room after room, finding nothing and no one. Ten whole minutes passed with no resolution. Guilmon began sniffing the air, finding an strange but appetizing scent. He followed it into another room with a jungle preservation themed display.

"Mmmm. I smell barbecue," he said and sniffed the ground.

Exotic bird calls and chirping bug sounds from a pre-recorded audio system filled the room. Little did Guilmon know that he was being closely watched from high above in the trees...


	3. Chapter 3: Devil Planet!

A Digital Nightmare

**Chapter 3**

"Well, there's nobody here either," Takato said as he sat down on a big rock in front of a wilderness display. "Great. Now what do we do?" He hung his head and stared at the floor.

"Aw, cheer up, li'l dude. We'll find somebody eventually. I hope," Josh said as he walked past and began searching into another room.

Takato sighed. What if he and the others never got back home? What if this was happening all over the world or something? What if _all_ the Digimon in the Digital World had gone nuts and turned into bloodthirsty rampaging monsters? Wait, did that guy just call him "little dude"?

"Whoa! Hey guys, check this out!" Josh's voice came from inside the other darkened room.

The rest of the group came over to see.

"What! Did you find something?" Lisa asked with anticipation.

Josh had a weird frown on his face. His eyes were fixed down on the ugly dark red carpeting in the room.

"Ummmm. Well yeah. Uh...I...think...I found a Planet Soldier," he said in an unsure tone of voice.

"Oh sweet Jesus! FINALLY! They can help us! Where! Where's Wheeler?" Lisa jumped up and down.

"I think that may be part of him over there..."Josh flipped on the room's lights, revealing the horrific scene.

What they had thought to be red carpeting was actually the floor covered wall to wall with blood. Lisa's eyes went wide, her face pale as she saw what must have been Wheeler's arm lying on the floor, his golden Fire Elemental ring still on his finger.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The group screamed in unison, Lisa and Elsea clutching each other, Henry and Takato and Gargomon doing the same. Keirauramon nearly fainted.

"HOLY CRAP!" Reina shouted.

"Oh man..." Josh held his nose and looked in another direction.

Bits and pieces of what looked like several museum staff members and security guards were scattered around the bloody room...at least it seemed to be from what was left of them, as far as anyone could tell. It seemed as though they had fallen to the mutated Digimon. From the look of it, they'd been swarmed upon without even a chance to attack. The room held a few tell-tale signs of battle with deep scratch marks in the cement floor and parts of the walls. A window in the ceiling was smashed in but nothing to give evidence of anyone, including the once proud Planet Soldier Wheeler, using any deadly force in the battle. Surely, they had seen their enemies coming?

"TAKATOOOOOOOO!" Guilmon's scream echoed from down the hallway.

Takato's head whipped around to see. "GUILMON! Oh man, we gotta get outta here!"

The group took off towards the sound of Guilmon's voice and found him scrambling down the hall.

"TAKATOOOO! SAVE ME!" His eyes were huge with panicked fright as he tackled Takato, knocking him down and grabbing onto him. He was shivering.

Takato's eyes swirled momentarily and he shook off his daze. "Urg!Uh...Guilmon! Get off! What-"

"TAKATO, HE'S GOING TO EAT ME!" Guilmon buried his face in Takato's chest. This was the most terrified Takato had ever seen Guilmon act. He must have run into something really bad.

Takato heard a thumping like heavy footsteps moving rapidly down the hall where Guilmon had been.

Something was coming.

He peered around Guilmon and saw what the rest of the group just had as well, appearing in the hallway:

Captain Planet?

Only a version of him they had never expected to be seeing. The Captain's body was horribly warped from its usual humanoid proportions. He almost appeared to be...a Digimon.

The color scheme was unmistakable: his sky-blue blue skin, grass-green hair, red outfit...right down to the gilded globe symbol on his chest. Except that now he looked like a large blue velociraptor of some sort with a white underbelly and tiger-like black stripes running along his arms, legs, and tail. His face was still humanoid but rather demonic looking. A metal mask with three curved, blade-like horns decorating it covered the upper part of his semi-reptilian looking face. He also had dangerously sharp looking teeth and claws. His green hair which was normally kept in a well-trimmed (though a bit badly in taste) style mullet was overgrown and hung down his back far past his shoulders. It also seemed as though the Captain had not only turned into a Digimon but lost his own conscious self-awareness as well.

The Digimonized Captain spoke in a deeper, more aggressive sounding voice, "You who have entered this place! You shall die here!"

The groups' mouths hung open.

"Is...that...is that Captain Planet?" Elsea pointed, eyes wide.

"Oh man! Watch out! He's one a those psycho-Digimon now! He must have done this!" Josh yelled and backed away, "It must have been him that killed that Planet Soldiers and all the other people!"

"SILENCE!" the Captain Planet Digimon snarled, thrusting a claw at them. "I am no longer bound to them. No longer their servant. They are weak, filthy humans. I now realize that I am destined for greater purposes! I am now...DEVIL PLANET!" he shouted, raising his clawed finger into the air triumphantly.

The shocked and now bewildered group of teens and Digimon stared on in disbelief.

"I am no longer Gaia's savior, but her tormentor!" the now self-proclaimed 'Devil Planet' hissed and pulled his clawed hand back down, balling it into a fist. "I must aid Lord Sindramon in his quest to reach his final perfect form. Then I will help to wipe out the virus of organic life plaguing this world once and for all!"

He then sort of struck a strange victory pose, showing off his now Digimon sized muscles...

"This is getting damn freaky! What the hell happened to him? What's he talking about? What the hell's a Sindramon?" Reina asked as she tried consoling Lisa who had begun to sob with the fear that they all might be torn limb from limb.

Nosfutoramon thought for a moment.

"Perhaps Captain Planet was summoned by the Planet Soldiers in attempt to stop the mutated Digimon, where he may have been injured by them and some of their tainted blood got into his system! Then it somehow mutated him into a Digimon himself, causing him to go into a vicious state of behavior like the mutant Digimon themselves. And this Sindramon he spoke of...perhaps is behind this odd happening as well. Perhaps it is controlling the mutant Digimon and the Captain now along with them. If this is the case and what happened to the Captain indeed passes through the bloodstream like a true virus...we may all be in grave danger!" she finished somberly.

Devil Planet was now making some strange 'ninja-jutsu-like' moves with his hands.

"SEN! SAI! RIN! CHI! HAOH! " he chanted.

Abruptly, he stopped and a bright ball of light appeared inside his cupped hands. It grew to the size of a soccer ball within seconds, and kept growing as Devil Planet spread his hands farther apart.

The group of teens quickly took notice and panicked.

"AAAAAH!" several screamed in unison.

"He's attacking!" Gargomon yelled and waved his gun arms.

The group ran like for their lives as the light ball grew huge and brilliant. Devil Planet changed position and swung his arms back, preparing to launch the ball of energy.

"_DEVIL'S SWIRLING VORTEX!" _he screamed and hurled the ball out towards the group as they made a mad dash down the hall.

They spit and dove to each side of the hall as the globe of light grew enormous. It sailed past them and exploded through the back wall, taking a gigantic chunk out of it.

Devil Planet sneered, crossing his arms. As much as he wished to rid the place of the interfering humans and their pets, he had no time to deal with them now. Lord Sindramon was waiting. His orders must first be fulfilled.

"Yes...the remaining Planet Soldiers must die!" Devil Planet said aloud.

He then hurled himself towards the opposite wall and smashed through it like it was a paper bag and not three feet of concrete. He soon was gone, disappearing into the streets beyond.

The teens and Digimon were still on the ground covering their heads with their hands as bits of shrapnel, dust, and pebbles continued to rain down on them from the previous attack.

Takato stood up and brushed himself off, coughing.

"Okay...I'm done. Game over! Call the army!"

"I agreeeeeeee!" Lisa said through tearful sobs. "Call the freaking army! Let them handle this!"

"Damn!" Reina stood up as well. "I thought that guy always had some weird issues before, but NOW...Rrrg!" She angrily slapped dust and rock bits off her shoulders.

Henry coughed a few times and got to his feet.

"Hey, did you hear him though? The _remaining_ Planet Soldiers! That means he missed some! Maybe if we can get to them first, they can help us get outta this mess."

"For now, let's get outta here! I think all that noise would have attracted more freaky Digimon," Josh said, looking around nervously.

10101

Back outside the disheveled and frustrated group continued roaming the streets with caution, searching for answers about what was going on and where the other Planet Soldiers went, all while being careful to avoid running into the deranged Devil Planet. Along the way they found the rest of a trail of destruction that happened before they arrived in the city...

The mutated Digimon had left a very large trail of bloodshed. A truck was in the middle of the street on its side, torn open. They passed what might have been a nice pet shop. Animal cages, all empty now...littered the streets. The glass windows in several buildings were blown out and shards absolutely littered the streets. Several cars were smashed up, having been tossed like toys, and were now on fire a few feet away. L.A. was in shambles.

"Man, I just thought of something," Reina broke the silence. "If the Planet Soldiers were here for their big environmental show, don't you assume that one or more of the anti-Planet-loving evil guys'd be here hoping to crash the plans? And now that Captain Planet's nutso and some Planet Soldiers are pushin' up daisies...Don't you think they'd be pretty much able to do that here now?"

Elsea rubbed her chin. "That's a good point," she gasped. " Could those Planet Villains be behind the cause of all this too? What if they are!"

"We're basically pretty much screwed," Josh answered.

It was getting dark now. Not good. They'd have to hurry and find a safe place to spend the night rather than risk being out after dark. It was bad enough in the daylight.

10101

"I'm tired...I'm hungry...I'm thirsty...And I'm running out of things to complain about!" Reina moaned.

They'd been walking for what seemed like hours.

"Look!" Elsea exclaimed and pointed forward.

They'd come upon a restaurant.

The door was open, and it looked like it had been in business before the tragic events had occurred. They all rushed inside. There was nobody there, and no sign of any more evil Digimon. It looked clean. And best of all, there was still food around. Guilmon and Takato's eyes lit up and they rushed the buffet table of Italian food, knocking over a few chairs and scaring the rest of the group momentarily.

"Well...okay. It looks safe in here. We might as well eat to keep our strength up and rest a bit, huh guys?" Keirauramon piped.

Everyone else agreed without hesitation and rushed the buffet table before Guilmon and Takato ate it all.

"Hey, you guys! Don't be such jerks, save some for us!" said Elsea, smacking both of them on the head.

"Ugh! Sorry!" Takato and Guilmon both apologized, rubbing their injured craniums.

"Mmm! I loves Italian!" Josh said stuffing a breadstick into his mouth. He offered some meatballs and sauce to Solardramon but the dragon Digimon shook his head, preferring to eat greens instead of meat and went for the salad bar.

"I don't see how you guys have your appetites after all the horrible gory crap we just went through," Lisa said looking annoyed as she rested in a chair nearby.

Takato journeyed into the kitchen to check if they had anything else tasty in back. He noticed the back door to the restaurant was open slightly. He froze after hearing a thump outside.

"Mm!" Takato swallowed the spaghetti he had in his mouth. "Oh crud!" he said under his breath. "Guys!...Guys!" he tiptoed back out and got the others' attention.

"Guys! I...I heard something outside!"

"Aww man! No way! Not here too!" Josh held up a bread knife and moved to where Takato was.

Guilmon backed away, hiding behind the buffet table. "Oh...not again!" He then ducked under the table.

The rest of the group was silent and waited. Then Lisa spoke.

"Takato...Go check it out!"

Takato nearly fell over.

"WHAT?" he whispered a bit loudly. "Why me?"

"You're the one closest to the door!"

Takato nearly fell over again.

"Check it out and if we need to, we can get the drop on whatever's there!" Reina added. "Look! Take that with you!" she pointed to the table next to him. A shiny new meat cleaver was lying on it.

Takato swallowed. He grabbed the cleaver anyway, but didn't know if he'd be able to use it. Why couldn't they just send Solardramon?

"Careful, Takato!" Terriormon whispered, clutching Henry's pant leg.

Takato gulped again. He inched towards the door. There was another soft noise like bottles and cans being tipped over. Something was definitely out there. Takato held the cleaver out as he reached the door. Peeking through the crack, he didn't see anything. Takato opened the door a bit. He raised the cleaver.

"I...don't see anything!" He opened the door even more and stuck his head out.

Nothing. There was nothing there. Just some scattered garbage next to the dumpster.

Takato sighed with relief.

"Ah. No sweat, guys! False alarm!" he called out. "It was probably just a ra-"

Suddenly the dumpster behind him raised its lid as Takato was walking past.

"Aa-aaaaat? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Takato freaked, seeing a huge rat-like form with glowing eyes pop out of the dumpster.

He screamed like a girl and threw the cleaver at the figure, which dodged, leaping out of the dumpster in a flurry of garbage. Takato ran a few yards before tripping over his own feet and crashing into a pair of trash cans.

"Owch! Dammit!" Takato rubbed his face while wincing and sat up.

"Throw a knife at my head, will ya, ya little punk?"

A gruff voice came from behind him. Takato turned around and found himself staring up into some very scary eyes. Eyes of a big, creepy, evil looking, giant RAT! A giant _humanoid_ rat. Wearing dirty looking street clothes, no less.

"You interrupted my dinner kid. I don't like that."

The rat-man's clawed hand reached out and grabbed Takato by the shirt, lifting up about three feet off the ground.

"To tell ya the truth, I don't like kids much either, _period_."

Takato screamed again. The rat man laughed and carelessly dropped Takato back on his hindquarters.

Josh heard Takato's girly scream and burst through the door. He gasped, seeing the hulking figure standing over Takato. It whipped its head around startled to see Solardramon burst through the door as well, prepared to attack.

"SOLAR FLARE!"

Solardramon fired the ball of flames at the figure, who jumped out of the way as the attack scorched the side of the building behind.

"What is it? Another freak Digimon?" Reina shouted and ran outside, Kurohoshimon right behind her.

She blinked, stunned at the sight of Solardramon chasing what appeared to be a big, bi-pedal, rat-thing around with his Solar Flare attacks. "A freak Digimon...rat? No way...it really doesn't look like a Digimon at all. But then, what is it?"

"Oh my God!I HATE rats!" Lisa shivered. "Eww, eeeeew! God, L.A. has _got_ to do something about their city!"

"FRY HIM, SOLARDRAMON!" Josh yelled.

"Aaah! Like hell ya will!" the rat-man yelled back defiantly and pulled a switchblade from his pocket.

He jumped up and slashed at Solardramon. Solardramon dodged but fell backwards and landed in a pile of garbage nearby. The rat-man landed on all fours and gave an evil laugh as he ran off.

"Later, punksss!"

He disappeared around a corner and was gone.

"Damn!" Josh slammed his fist into the brick wall. "Well, it got away, whatever it was."

"That was a bad omen! Evil Digimon, mutant Captain Planet, dead Planet Soldiers...and now, giant talking rats?" Elsea said in a scared tone, clutching her ankh.

"Damn. Maybe we just shoulda chartered a bus and got the heck outta here instead of running around the city looking for answers to questions we probably don't even wanna know," Reina said with frustration. "Hmm. I bet at least some of this has to do with that big ass bird we saw earlier," she continued, rubbing her chin.

"Oh yeah. You mean that big black one?" Henry said standing next to her, "I wonder where it got to?"

"Um...it's right there!" Keirauramon chirped with a worried look as she pointed up above them.

"AAAAH!" Reina and Henry both yelled, seeing the huge black bird bearing down on them.

It swooped down from in between two buildings, nearly knocking the teens and smaller Digimon off their feet with the strong gale it created with its wings.

"Look out!" Takato yelled and he and the rest of the group dove for cover.

"Run!" Josh shouted.

However, before any of them could get very far, the bird swooped back down and landed on the pavement. It _was _a Digimon...and a large one, at that. It was partially humanoid and stood nearly seventeen feet tall. The crow-like Digimon was clad in vaguely Japanese styled clothing, like something out of the feudal era. It was very reminiscent of one of the mythological bird-men of Japanese legends. It spoke to the group.

"You kids...You've been snooping around here a lot. That's not a good thing. For some reason...you...aren't affected by my Mind Freeze? That is strange," the unknown Digimon that sounded like it was channeling Christopher Walken said as it tapped a large hand talon to the side of his beak. "I'll have to remedy that."

"You! You're the one who made those people into zombies, aren't you?" Elsea yelled up to him.

"Where's our damn teachers? Where is everybody else!" Lisa added, taking refuge behind Elsea.

Solardramon snarled and poised for attack. Nosfutoramon, Kurohoshimon, Keirauramon, Guilmon, and Terriormon did the same.

The towering bird Digimon chuckled.

"Not quite. I'm simply keeping the place quiet...for my master. You see...he's the one in charge here. My job...is to...weed out nosy humans like you from getting in his plans. And...you don't wanna make the master..._mad_. He's...very _scary_...when he gets mad. So...if you'll excuse me...I have work to do now," he raised up off the ground, flapping his wings.

"Hey! Don't you leave! Come back here and fight!" Reina shouted and waved a fist.

"Sorry...I can't stay...But leave your names and numbers...and I'll get back to you. In the meantime...here's something to keep you all occupied." He placed a clawed finger to his forehead. "_MIND FORCE!_" his voice echoed through the air as he shouted the words.

The was a moment of silence and then, all over, the streets began filling with people. Zombified people. They all were headed towards the teens and Digimon.

"You see...I control them as well. Ha ha...Later!" the bird Digimon waved and flew up into the sky again, disappearing back over the buildings.

"Aww, shit!" Josh exclaimed as the crowd of zombie citizens grew larger and larger trying to box them in.

Lisa screamed and backed up The zombified people kept advancing towards them, clutching and groping.

"Hey, leggo!" Henry yelled and fought off a zombified guy who grabbed his shirt, almost ripping it.

Several other hands were grabbing and swarming over Guilmon and company as well.

"Ow! Crap, we gotta get outta here!" Reina kicked away whoever had just pulled her hair.

The mob was becoming quite violent.

"Urrr!" a male zombie citizen groaned and his fist came down on Kurohoshimon's head, almost knocking him down.

"That's it. We've got to fight back!" he shouted, fed up with the zombie mob. "SHADOW KICK!" Kurohoshimon yelled and kicked out a wave of black energy, taking down an entire section of zombies in one hit.

"He's right! Let's kick some ass!" Josh pried the cold fingers off his throat and began just punching out people left and right.

Solardramon roared and swung his tail around like a whip, bowling annoying zombie-citizens out of the way. Between all the beatings they dished out, a path became cleared through the street. The group ran for it, the zombies slowly turning and following. They were a good ways ahead of the crazy mob though and since the zombies walked pretty slowly, they had plenty of time to get far enough away and stop for breath in a parking garage.

Josh panted for breath and then saw something: a van with its door open. He ran to check it and found the keys still inside.

"Hell yeah! I found us a ride!" He jumped in and started it up.

The rest of the group rushed over and piled in. After Josh took Solardramon back into his Digivice, they backed out and zoomed off down an empty street.

"Wee haw! See ya, stupid zombies!" Takato yelled out the back window as the zombie mob was left in the dust.


	4. Chapter 4: Despicable Duo

A Digital Nightmare

**Chapter 4**

Elsewhere in the city...

"So...how do we use these things again?" the ominous voice of Verminous Skumm asked.

He was holding a small black metallic-looking object in his clawed hand. It had a strange red symbol on it that looked a bit like a Biohazzard sign with an X behind it.

"We've gone through this how many times now?" Dr. Blight said, looking annoyed. "See this thingy here? You click it when you want the big monster things to come out. Now don't ask me again, rat-brain!" She waved her own black device around in the air.

Skumm sneered. "Hey, I've never even seen one of these things until today, okay? Lay off, will ya," he said and stared at his device intently. "These things are too weird. Even for me." Skumm looked back at Blight. "Come to think of it, why are we even listening to that Surd guy anyway? We don't even know who he is or where he came from."

Blight shrugged and folded her arms, "How should I know. Boredom, maybe. He did say he could get rid of Captain Planet and his little groupies once and for all. That's usually good enough for me."

She ran a hand through her hair briefly.

"Plus, he gave us these...things. They're the most amazing technological thing I've seen in a long time. Right, Mal, baby?"

Blight raised her device up and Mal's green computerized visage appeared projected in the holographic screen. "Indeed, Doctor," his voice sounded.

Skumm looked over his again and cocked his head to one side. "Hrm. Well, I guess that is true."

"So let's finish what we started...and wipe this Eco-friendly hippie-infested city right off the map!" Blight snapped her fingers and raised her X-Digivice into the air, pressing the button.

"Activate!"

Skumm did the same.

"Activate!"

Two large, mysterious, and downright evil looking Digimon appeared from Blight and Skumm's newly obtained X-Digivices:

From the swirling red and black lights cast by Blight's Digivice appeared a brown and white minotaur-like Digimon about 10 feet in height. It growled and swung a huge axe into the pavement on which it stood. Upon its head were two sets of metallic looking horns and in its nostril, a large metal ring. The garb it wore was black and made of leather. The matching cowl over its head and neck, along with the giant axe, gave it the appearance of some sort of medieval executioner.

The second Digimon that appeared from Skumm's Digivice was on all fours, standing about 6 feet high from the ground. Its body details remained hidden in a seemingly perpetual silhouette but some were visible, such as its long jaws filled with numerous rows of shark-like teeth, vicious looking claws that appeared more like serrated kitchen knives, and large metal mask with several blade-like horns lining it. Its long slender tail had several matching metal rings floating around it.

In addition to the summoned Digimon, Blight and Skumm also changed in appearance as well via a swirl of bright red light that surrounded them briefly.

Instead of her usual pink outfit, Blight was now clad in a shiny silver leather one with long belted black gloves and boots. Skumm's normally dirty and tattered garbs had become an uncharacteristically tidy black uniform with numerous belts and chains wrapping his arms and legs. He still had his red hood, however, and now matching gloves and boots. Skumm reached up and pulled the bottom of his hood down from covering his face.

Blight thrust out her Digivice and commanded her Digimon.

"All right, Sazumon! Let's see some action!"

The Nightmare Digimon Sazumon acknowledged, letting out a roar. It threw back its head and attacked.

"_SONIC PULSE CANNON!_"

The beast completely shattered the building nearby into chunks with a beam of blue light that burst from its mouth.

Blight cackled. "Yes! Marvelous!"

Skumm looked on, rather unimpressed. They'd only been doing this half the morning when they'd first been given the Digivices by Surd beforehand. Oddly enough, none of the Planet brats nor the Captain himself had ever showed up to try and stop them.

Skumm toyed with his Digivice, going through a small list of his shadowy behemoth's attacks.

"Hmmm. Let's see...what should we try out this time? Ah! Toxic Shadow! Yes...That sounds good!"

Skumm leapt up onto the awaiting Nightmare Digimon's back and it opened its mouth, releasing a burst of black and green acidic knives of energy that reduced whatever they came in contact with to smoldering globs. Skumm snickered, looking over the destruction.

"Hisshissississsiss!" he laughed.

Blight and Skumm began a rampage through the streets, blasting and melting anything and everything in their way. Suddenly there was a beep and Blight checked her wrist communicator. Surd's grinning visage popped up onscreen.

"Blight!" Surd barked angrily, despite his maniacal grin, "haven't you two found any trace of Bannon yet?"

Blight shook her head. "No, Surd. We're looking as fast as we can. It's going to take a while to find this guy in a city this large, you know! Are you even absolutely sure he's still here?"

"I'm POSITIVE! I can _sense_ him. I want him as soon as possible. So get back to work and FIND HIM!" Surd yelled and slammed his fist at the computer screen, making it waver into static.

Blight flinched. This guy was a total freak job.

"All right, all right! I told you, we're looking! We'll get him for you. Calm down," she said innocently and waved her hand up and down.

"Make sure you do. I'm getting quite impatient," Surd held up his black clad hand and the pointed fingers became even more curved and claw-like before Blight's eyes. Then the screen went black as he ended the transmission.

"Ugh. Bitch, bitch, bitch. That's all this guy ever does!" Blight muttered to herself. "I sure hope we find this Bannon guy so he'll shut up already!"

"Hmm. He could be anywhere. Even underground. Maybe we should check the sewers," Skumm said as he rode up beside her on his creepy looking Digimon.

"Yeah, right," Blight crossed her arms. "There's no way I'm going down to search for some guy in the sewers. Besides, you're just using that as an excuse so you can take off and leave me to deal with the nutjob myself!"

"No I'm not," Skumm folded his arms as well. "How do you know he wouldn't be down there? Are you psychic now, too?" he growled.

"I just have enough common sense to know he wouldn't be in a freaking sewer!" Blight yelled.

"Suuure. You just don't wanna get your new little outfit dirty," Skumm taunted.

"Oh shut up! It's bad enough we partnered up with that guy in the first place. Don't make this any more aggravating than it is already, rat face!" Blight snapped back.

"Like I didn't have better things to do than this crap anyway. Ooh, this guy says he can help us get rid of Planet. Like I haven't heard one that before already. Bah! I could have been making a quick buck selling dope to street punks today. Instead, here I am riding a monster from another dimension, searching for some rich old geezer scientist."

"I'm sure the punks'll do fine without you for one day, Skummy. There's enough mind candy in this city to keep everyone high as a kite for months. And the guy we're looking for isn't the scientist, he's the bodyguard of the scientist. But you would've remembered that if you'd been paying a little bit of attention," Blight corrected him just for the irritation.

"Ah, whatever. He's a pretty crappy bodyguard, seeing as how he was unable to keep his scientist buddy from being torn to shreds!" Skumm noted with a sinister laugh.

"Hmm. I thought the data said the guy was some ex-Navy Seal or something. And anyway, do you honestly think a normal guy'd be able to hold his own against a freaking monster from another dimension, Skummy? Ex-Seal or not?" Blight inquired.

"Maybe if he the right kinds of weapons. Mwahahahsissshississs! One thing's for sure, I bet the guy pissed himself before he ran at seeing these things!" Skumm mocked.

"All the more reason we should step up this operation, " Blight threw up her hands. "The guy could have fled for Mexico by now for all we know. Surd keeps claiming he's still here. Says he can 'sense' the guy. I dunno what exactly to believe. I'm starting to think asking for a large sum of cold, hard, cash would have been better than the Cap and his brats in body bags."

"They are pretty annoying. I really would enjoy seeing them in body bags," Skumm wrung his clawed hands as he spoke.

"Like I wouldn't. But still, all this trouble doesn't seem worth it, giant monsters or not." Blight turned and adjusted her thigh high boot's ankle strap.

"You really like that space-hooker outfit, don't you?" Skumm snickered.

"Screw off," Blight said casually and adjusted her hair while looking at her reflection in her darkened Digivice screen.

"Hississsissisis. Space hooker," Skumm snickered again.

Suddenly one of Skumm's rat henchmen scurried up and piped in.

"Mr. Skumm! Hey, Mr. Skumm!" he shouted and waved his arm but Skumm's Digimon beast turned its head towards the interruption. The fixed snarl on its lips caused the smaller rat man to recoil in fear.

"What is it?" Skumm asked, looking irritated.

His henchman blinked for a moment and cautiously stepped away from the monstrosity his boss was perched atop.

"Ah...well...Um...there were some kids! Back in the alley...I saw them and they looked suspicious, so I thought I'd tell y-"

"Huh? The Planet punks?" Blight cut him off.

"Well...uh...I don't think so...but..." the smaller rat man continued, "they attacked me! They had some big dinosaur thing that did what they told it to and-"

"What? They had a Digi-moe too?" Skumm growled. "That Surd guy didn't say anything about that."

"DAMMIT! I swear, if those Planet-loving pricks come anywhere near me this time, I'll rip their faces off!" Blight yelled, waving her fist. "Well, actually..._You'll_ rip their faces off!" she pointed her finger at her Digimon, Sazumon.

Sazumon gave a grunt.

"Yeah...Those little punks'll make a nice snack for our Digi-moe friends here, won't they!" Skumm wrung his clawed hands deviously again.

His Digimon drooled a bit and licked his lips.

"Um...I don't think they were the Planeteens. There was more than five," the rat henchman spoke up again, "and they didn't have no rings or nuthin'. And they didn't look like the Planet guys either...But they was talking about 'em!"

Blight yelled in his face making him recoil again. "Well, don't jerk us around! Either you saw Planet brats or you didn't! Which is it? Come on, let's go! Let's go!" she grabbed him and shook him as if that would have been all it would take to get the info out of him faster.

"Yaa aaaaaah aaaah aaaaaaah! I d-d-d-don't KNOW!" he squeaked.

Blight let him go. The rat henchman fell to the ground, his eyes swirling around in his head from being violently shaken.

Skumm jumped down from his ride.

"Hey. Don't shake up my guys like that," he growled at Blight. "Only _I_ can do that."

Skumm grabbed his henchman and began shaking him even more violently. "So then tell us what you DID see!"

"YA-AH-AH-AH-AAAAH! I SAW SOME KIDS AND STUFF AND THEY WERE DOING THINGS!" the rat man squeaked again as he was thrashed back and forth.

"Wow, you sure know how to pick good help, eh, Skummykins?" Blight crossed her arms again, looking rather bored.

Skumm sneered, letting his henchman go. The rat-man once again fell back to the ground with a whine.

"Ahh...I...I heard them outside this restaurant I was sniffing around! They was talking about Planet Soldiers, Captain Planet, and evil 'Digimon' or something! So I hid in the dumpster...and then this one kid came out and I tried to jump him, but his other friends heard and then they sicked the big dinosaur thing on me! But I got away and came here to tell you, and that's all I know! Waaaaah!"

The henchman cowered with his arms over his head as if he feared he was going to be shaken once again.

"Hmm. Sounds bad. I thought all the people in the city were supposed to be hypnotized or something, to keep out of our way," Skumm said and rubbed his chin.

"And if they were talking about Captain Planet and his brats AND had some 'good' Digimons, they pretty much pose a big irritating threat to our mission here. We'd better keep an eye out for these kids," Blight said angrily.


	5. Chapter 5: A Little Bit of Hope

A Digital Nightmare

**Chapter 5**

"Aww, dammit..."

The van was beginning to rumble and become unsteady. Josh checked the fuel gauge and saw that the pointer was coming to rest on the 'E.' He smacked the steering wheel as the van finally slowed to a stop.

"Great! We're outta gas."

The statement was met with angry groans from the rest of the group.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Lisa cried.

"Walk again, I guess," Reina said, hands resting over her eyes.

"Oh, God, I hate everything here! I hate this place, I hate this day, I hate it all!" Lisa yelled, kicking the seat in front of her (which Henry was seated in) and beginning to cry again.

Elsea gave her a pat on the shoulder in an attempt at consolation. The entire group was beginning to feel like breaking down and joining her. Josh was too busy thumping his head gently on the steering wheel to notice something walk in front of the van. Terriormon had spotted the figure though and jumped onto his head, pointing out the front windshield.

"Look! Somebody's out there!" Terriormon yelled as Josh scrambled to pluck him off.

"Arg! Get off me, man, your claws are digging into my neck! OW!"

"Hey, he's right! Look!" Elsea jumped up and crammed into the window.

In the road in front of the van stood what looked like a young girl dressed in a white shirt and shorts.

"Who...is it?" Reina asked as she stared at the mysterious figure.

"Hey, hey! Careful, it might be a trap!" Henry warned, waving a hand.

Josh finally pried Terriormon off his head and looked for himself. "Ugh. I don't know, but..." he suddenly saw something out of the corner of his eye. It was another mutated Digimon!

This one appeared to be a Sylphymon. It was rapidly bearing down on the girl, intending to make a nice snack out of her. Josh threw open his door and stepped out.

"Guys! We gotta help that kid!" He thrust out his Digivice.

Behind him dashed Nosfutoramon and Keirauramon, already prepared for battle.

"Hold on a minute. You and barbecue-breath already got to do enough! It's our turn to help out," Keirauramon chirped. "Let's do this!" She made a first with her little hand.

"I am prepared to make short work of this foe," Nosfutoramon nodded, drawing into an attack stance.

The Sylphymon hissed and scratched its huge talons on the ground. It pounced at the girl, who still stood silently in the middle of the street. As the mutant Digimon let out a primal scream, the girl covered her eyes.

"Oh no you don't!" Keirauramon cried, making a dash for the girl and snatching her out of harms way as the Slyphymon's claws dug into the pavement where she had stood moments before.

The Sylphmon turned, drool splashing from the corner of its open mouth. It gave another scream of fury and lunged at the pair. Nosfutoramon rushed forward sending a foot into the side of the mutant Digimon's head so hard that the helmet the beast wore cracked. Just as quickly, she sent another into its stomach and yet another back into its head. Nosfutoramon continued with a flurry of merciless kicks, driving the Digimon back. The sound of several of the beast's bones snapping could be heard rather loudly. Finally, Nosfutoramon ceased.

The battered Sylphymon wavered for a moment before it crumpled to the ground. It turned black and vanished back into data. Nosfutoramon casually brushed off her fur as the rest of the group looked in awe of her skills.

Keirauramon folded her little arms for a moment and pouted. "I could have done that, too."

Nosfutoramon walked back over to the young girl. "I'm sure you could, have," she said and smiled at Keirauramon.

Keirauramon turned back to the girl. "Wow, you sure are lucky we ran out of gas here. You might have been torn to tiny pieces by that guy!"

Nosfutoramon gave her a look, as that wasn't the most appropriate thing to be blurting out to the little girl, given the situation and her age.

Keirauramon placed her hand to her head. "Uhhh, heh, I mean...What we're you doing out here all by yourself?"

The little girl chewed on her finger and simply stared at Keirauramon. She kept on staring for a long while, then patted the confused Digimon on the head, giggled innocently, and ran off.

"Hey, wait!" Keirauramon waved her hands frantically.

Nosfutoramon looked alarmed as well.

Josh stepped forward. "Whoa! Wait a minute! Where's she going?"

"Who knows!" Elsea shouted, stepping out of the van and calling back Nosfutoramon. " Let's follow her. She may know something!"

The rest of the group abandoned the van and took off after the girl in white. She was running towards a junk yard.

"She's going in there!" Elsea pointed the way.

"Oh, yuck! Why there? It's a dump!" Lisa said, annoyed.

The group kept chasing after the girl, deep into the junkyard. They followed her through mazes of trash and scrap for what seemed like hours. Finally they simply ran out of breath and paused in the middle of a clearing surrounded by old car frames.

"Ah, man. Where'd she go?" Josh panted.

He looked up and saw the girl standing a few yards away, seemingly waiting.

"All right, you!" Josh pointed a finger at her angrily. "What the heck are you trying to pull? Quit running away and talk to us. We saved your life, you at least owe us that much!"

The girl turned and disappeared through the doorway of a shed nearby.

"Way to go, Josh," Reina snapped at him.

"You're not too good with kids, are ya?" Takato said with a smirk.

The group continued their chase and followed the girl into the shed. It was pitch black, however. They had little idea where they were going, much less where the girl had.

"Ah crap! Now we're lost!" Josh grumbled.

"I can't see a thing!" Reina said through the darkness.

"I hate this place even more," came Lisa's ever complaining voice.

"I...have to go to the bathroom..." Takato's muttered.

"Hey, Josh...call out Solardramon! Give us some light here!" Henry urged, feeling blindly through the dark.

"Ow! Hey! Watch it!" Reina's voice came from behind him.

"Oops, sorry!" Henry apologized.

"Hang on," Josh said as he fumbled in his pockets for his Digivice.

"Hurry please...I can't take much more of this! Ow, somebody's on my foot!" Elsea yelped.

"Uh oh! Sorry!" Guilmon's voice sounded.

Suddenly the sound of plastic hitting the concrete rang through the air.

"Aw, dammit!" Josh's voice sounded.

"Oh, tell me that wasn't what it sounded like, please," Reina said softly.

"Nobody move! Let me...get it," Josh said in frustration as he lowered himself to the ground and began searching with his hands to the floor.

"Oh man, can Digimon die if their Digivice is crushed?" Henry asked, feeling around to see if anybody was there.

"No. But it's not really advisable to let the device get damaged," Elsea informed in the pitch black.

There was a sudden bright flash of light and Elsea turned toward it. "Oh good, you-" she stopped, seeing Josh looking confused, still kneeling on the ground.

Josh spotted his Digivice nearby and grabbed it. The rest of the group turned toward the figure from which the light was coming from.

"Hey, what's going on here? I hear voices and find you guys all stumblin' around in the dark?"

The red haired young man stood before them holding a dancing flame over the golden ring he was wearing on his prosthetic metal finger.

"No way!" Reina shouted in disbelief.

"You can't be..." Henry pointed at him, dumbfounded.

"WHEELER!" Lisa screamed.

The surprised Planet Warrior found himself in the ecstatic teen's unrelenting grip.

"Whoa, whoa, WHOA! Hey, not so tight! Uh, I mean...uh, do I know you?" Wheeler tried to maintain his balance as Lisa clung to him.

"We thought...back there...the mutated Digimon...Devil Planet!" Henry attempted to string together a full coherent sentence but couldn't seem to.

By now the group had taken notice of the Planet Warrior's silvery bionic-looking arm.

"We thought you were dead! Back there in the museum!" Elsea spoke up.

Wheeler's eyes narrowed.

"Naw. I didn't go down, yet. But the bastards did get my arm," he said, raising his arm up more. " Had to backtrack and get my ring. I couldn't leave this baby behind. Although right now, it doesn't do much good anymore." His eyes went to the ground with a look of sadness to them.

"Captain Planet...or should I say Devil Planet..." Elsea said softly with a nod.

"No!" Wheeler said sharply and waved his arm out. Lisa, who was still in his other arm, looked surprised. "I refuse to believe that that...thing...is Cap. Our rings still work. He has to still be in there somewhere. We just gotta get him back out."

The group fell silent. Lisa allowed herself to be released and stood quietly. Wheeler looked a bit embarrassed for going off.

"Eh...Um. I'm sorry. I mean...it's just been a pretty rotten day for us all. You know?" Wheeler said as he stared at his feet.

"We know," Josh agreed quickly.

The rest of the group was quick to nod.

"Uh, so hey. Where'd you guys come from?" Wheeler asked. "I thought most of the people in town got turned into these like, weird zombies."

"They did!" said Reina. "But for some reason, we weren't affected."

"It was a giant bird Digimon! He was the one who cast this mind control wave over the city, turning everyone into mindless zombies!" Elsea said.

"Big bird? Ah, that guy," Wheeler responded, placing a hand on his hip.

"You saw him, too?" Takato asked, walking back up while zipping his fly.

Wheeler nodded. "Yeah, we saw him all right. Giant talkin' humanoid bird's not something you see around this place that often. We were trackin' him down when this whole thing started. Called himself Tengudramon, I remember."

"Tengudramon? Well, we know he's one of this Sindramon fellow's henchmen," Elsea informed.

"We still don't even know who this Sindramon really is, though," added Henry.

"We've been talkin' to a few other guys from outta town ourselves. C'mon, maybe you guys can put your info and their info together and make somethin' outta this all," Wheeler said with a thumbs up and a 'follow me' gesture.

The group followed him through the junk shed and into an adjoining warehouse. There they found a large cylindrical shaped glass structure waiting in the back of the building.

"It's all right. Like Star Trek, right? Y'know. Beam me up, Scotty!" Wheeler reassured the group, who looked a bit hesitant.

"I'm...not really a Star Trek fan," Reina said, narrowing her eyes and looking over the tube.

"Well, I know it works, at least. I been through it," Wheeler said with a shrug. "It leads back to our safe house. You comin' or not?"

Rather than staying and take the chance of being attacked by more Nightmare Digimon, zombies, or other force, the group piled into the tube.

"Ugh! Guilmon, move over a bit, will ya?" Takato whined from his spot smushed against the glass.

"Oy. I don't think this thing was designed with Digimon occupants in mind," Henry said, his body also smashed against the glass as he fought for space.

The others were also having a difficult time finding space in the tube to stand around with Guilmon being there.

"Sorry, Takato! Um...sorry everyone," Guilmon whined back.

"Arg. Here...we go!" Wheeler grumbled and pressed his hand against a lighted panel nearby.

The tube vibrated slightly and began to glow with a white light.

"Whhhoooaaa...this feels weird!" Henry said with a wince.

"Urrg! It feels like my stomach is gonna shake the food right out of it!" Takato said nervously.

"Ugh, please don't let it, Takato!" Elsea pleaded.

The light engulfed the group inside the glass tube and in a flash they were gone. They reappeared moments later in another receiving glass cylinder set in a far different area.

"Waaaaaaah!" Takato yelled as he came tumbling out of the tube with Guilmon and Henry.

The rest of the group followed, having lost their balance after the trip. Wheeler picked himself back up and dusted off his pants.

"Uh. See, no sweat, right?"

Reina got up and brushed herself off as well, noticing the sand covering the ground. It appeared the glass transportation device had taken them to some beach resort. The area was beautiful...lush and green all over. There were odd crystal structures popping up out of the ground in places.

"Where are we?" Reina asked in awe.

"Hope Island."

A woman's voice came from seemingly nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

"Welcome. We've been waiting for you."

"Whoa! I'm hearing voices!" Josh grabbed his head and looked startled.

"I heard it too!" Lisa said.

"Oh my gosh, could it be?" Elsea chimed with excitement.

The group watched as suddenly in a burst of rainbow-like swirling light, the figure of a woman appeared and floated down before them. She had raven black hair with a few light purple streaks running through it and was clad in a flowing purple gown. Two more flowing pieces of material, lavender in color, were wrapped around her left shoulder and right arm. A gold band adorned her forehead.

Visible behind the mysterious woman were also the remaining Planet Warriors and some other people the group of teens did not recognize: A white-haired man dressed in a tattered red shirt and black pants...a brown-haired man who was dressed in a black turtleneck, gray jeans, and was wearing handcuffs...a woman with short red hair who was dressed in a blue mini skirted outfit and was also in handcuffs...and an Indian teen wearing a vested outfit with a white turban, holding in his arms a small white bulldog with black markings around its eyes.

"Whoa. Uh. Hey! Where are we and who the heck are you?" Josh demanded, pointing a finger.

Elsea gasped and pushed Josh out of the way as she ran up in front.

"Josh! This is Gaia! The Spirit of the Earth! I read about her in my studies for the trip. It's a honor to meet you, Miss Gaia! Or should I call you Lady Gaia?" Elsea made a curtsy.

"Gaia is just fine. I'm very pleased to meet you, as well. I'm so glad you're here," Gaia said with a pleasant smile.

Josh folded his arms. "Spirit of the Earth? For real?"

"Yes. For real," Gaia responded. "You're now on Hope Island. So far, it's been free from any attacks. I'm sure you're aware of the situation in Los Angeles and the disturbing happenings by now."

"I'll say! It's been a horrible mess since we left our field trip bus this morning!" Reina said.

"Strange Digimon have been behind those attacks. But we don't know how they came to be exactly, or how they got loose in the city," Henry said.

"Yes. Those creatures are not of our world, but seem to be able to cross over into our physical realm through computers, becoming living flesh and blood creatures," the female Planet Warrior from Asia came forth and spoke, "I have been doing some research since the large computer disturbance this morning and it seems these creatures showed up right after it happened."

"Computer disturbance?" Henry repeated with a hand to his head.

"It affected the entire city," she added. "Oh, my name is Gi. Pleased to meet you."

Henry shook hands with her and the teen with the turban placed the dog on the ground and came walking to meet the rest of them.

"Allow me to quickly introduce myself as well. I am Hadji Singh," said the Indian teen. "I believe the computer disturbance can be blamed partly on one of the Quest family's enemies: a man named Jeremiah Surd. You see, this Jeremiah Surd, though crippled physically in the real world, is a quite deadly adversary in a virtual reality world of the Quest's design. That world, known as "Questworld," was somehow compromised through the computer disturbance, through which I believe it and a strange, previously unknown to us alternative world intertwined."

"The Digital World?" Takato asked softly.

"Yes, it would seem as thought these creatures appeared from cyberspace," Hadji replied. " We had thought Surd disposed of during one of our previous battles until just recently. Somehow Jeremiah Surd's consciousness was able to gain control of this world and roam about freely in the computer systems throughout the city. He is now able to call forth these Digimon into our world. They are very strong and already have proven themselves to be quite deadly. Several of the ones Surd summoned to attack us in Maine destroyed the Quest compound and attempted to take the lives of some of the family members within. One is now in very critical condition in the medical facility here," Hadji's eyes dropped to the ground with a hint of sadness visible in them.

A blond teen wearing a black sweatshirt and jeans walked up to the group.

"Surd's gone too far this time. One thing's for sure, this time he's goin' down!" the teen said angrily and punched his fist into his palm.

Hadji spoke up again, "We were in the process of finding help when our group got separated. Trying to gain some answers to this madness, I found myself engaging in a meeting with Surd's former assistant, Julia, in one of the local penitentiaries. Still, I am afraid I am struck for any further explanations."

"All right, Swami. Let me have a go at it," Julia said, rubbing her head in frustration.

"It's not a very easy thing to try and explain but...something must have happened to Jeremiah in Belle Island. Something terrible. We think it was caused by something calling itself 'Sindramon'. It infected the old Questworld program like a virus. I don't know what it is or where it came from, or even exactly what it did to Jeremiah, but somehow it split his mind from his physical body." Julia slid her fingers through her hair briefly and then walked to a nearby wood bench and sat down.

The group's eyes fixed intently on the woman as she continued.

"Jeremiah's mind was somehow able to take on physical form in this 'Digital World,' leaving Questworld all together. He's now able to jump from computer to computer, making these bizarre monster wherever and whenever he wants. We tracked him all the way here to L.A. I figure he must be after Bannon. But whatever else is going on is beyond me. I have no idea how he's pulling out all these monster 'Digimon' things but I do know they're capable of causing a lot of damage. They tore Dr. Quest up pretty good. I guess I'm lucky the turban brat came to bust me out when he did or I'd have been lunch for them too, with all the attacks on the city." Julia turned away and crossed he legs, adopting a more casual position.

"Lucky thing ya had 'em break me out too, Jules," Lorenzo chimed in, smirking a little.

"Just don't make me wish I hadn't bothered, Lorenzo." Julia's head was now in her hand, as it was aching quite badly upon having to deal with all this bizarre trouble.

"Man...this is all so weird," Josh said, scratching his head. "So...what do we all do now?"

"Well, I was hoping that the lot of you would help us try to straighten this whole thing out," Gaia said.

"Whoa, what now?" Reina responded with confusion.

"Yeah, we need all the help we can get to try and stop Surd," the blond teen said enthusiastically while staring the group of other teens down.

"Dude...I'm getting weird vibes about this kid," Reina said very softly as she went behind Lisa.

"Huh? What? Why?" Lisa asked, looking at her.

"Doesn't he kinda remind you of somebody? You know...the outfit? The hair?" Reina tapped Lisa on the shoulder, her lips pursed.

"Hmmm. Well, now that you mention it..." Lisa started to wonder aloud.

"Well, I supposed we could try. But we haven't really had much luck in getting anywhere with these damn Nightmare Digimon around. We've mostly just been escaping," Henry said, looking a little embarrassed.

"But you did manage to hold your own against them, at least," the white-haired man in the torn red shirt spoke up, his Southern accent quite heavy. "And that's what we really need right now. More defense against these things."

"Yes, and you also control some of these Digimon creatures who are benevolent! That would be quite a help to us already," Gi added.

"Yeah, with Cap still out there in that deranged state," Wheeler began, "we can't do much to fight right now. We needa try and get him back. We gotta help him."

"Ve must hurry, also!"

Another female blond-haired Planet Warrior with a heavy Russian accent came running up to the group.

"The longer Captain Planet remains under the control of evil, the weaker Gaia vill get!"

"Linka is right. I'm not feeling so good right now with Captain Planet out of commission...but I'm managing. However, if he becomes any worse..." Gaia trailed off with a forlorn look.

"What is worse," the Africa Planet Warrior Kwame spoke, "is that with Captain Planet under the mutation, our rings are becoming weaker as well. I fear the longer Captain Planet remains in that condition, the less we will be able to use our powers, until they eventually cease all together."

"And when that happens, we're even more screwed," Wheeler said and shook his head.

"All right. This has to be stopped," Takato said angrily. "So this Surd guy and this Sindramon are the main problems we got here, right?"

"Seems everything that started was revolving around them, so I'd vote yes," the blond teen replied.

"And the weird Nightmare Digimon they keep sending out as their personal army. We gotta find a way to knock back those freaks before they start crawling all over us," said Josh.

"We've managed to keep 'em at bay with out own Digimon," Henry said. "I'd vote we go after that Tengudramon. He seems to be one of the bigger underlings."

"Also, there are Eco-Villains running around causing a lot of trouble." Gi had a laptop open on a table and was punching keys rapidly. A small window popped up and showed what looked like part of the city in ruins while three shadowy figures with large Digimon rampaging through the streets as people screamed hysterically and fled left and right.

"Hey, there's still un-zombified people out there?" Henry exclaimed.

"There were. We're not sure if they're still there, though. This was taken early on when the events first started. A lot of people mysteriously vanished afterward," Gi responded.

"And the rest became mindless attack zombies, thanks to Tengudramon!" Reina said angrily as she walked over with Lisa.

"Who the heck are those guys?" Takato asked while squinting at the screen. The fuzziness of it made it hard to see the exact details of the figures depicted onscreen.

"Dr. Barbara Blight, Verminous Skumm, and Looten Plunder," Gi said as she brought up a few more detailed images of the villains.

"I guess the jerks were in the right place at the right time," Wheeler said while adjusting some small buttons on his arm. "Seems like they made some kind of power deal with that Surd guy and Sindramon. We know they monsters they're runnin' around with now were some of the ones who busted up the Turner museum and got the drop on us and Cap."

The rest of the teens looked at each other nervously, remembering the blood-soaked images of the museum.

"So...it wasn't Devil Planet that tore up those people back in there?" Henry asked.

Wheeler shook his head.

"Cap turned shortly after that, and then he started going after us. The bastard that got my arm was one ugly mofo. Looked like some kinda huge werewolf."

"They were going after us. Or me, I should say," the white-haired man spoke up again. "Surd's got a bone to pick with me an' my daughter. I was tryin' to lead 'em off of everybody else but...it didn't go so well."

"Looks like Devil Planet is trying to find us all, now," Gi spoke. "He shouldn't be able to, though, thanks to Gaia's barrier around Hope Island and the strange little thing that's been protecting our computer for a while since this ordeal began," she punched a few more keys and then turned the laptop so that all could see.

Displayed on the screen was a small golden Digi Egg with two white wing-like designs wrapping around it. A sparkling rainbow colored beam swirled around it.

"A Digi Egg?" Takato and Henry both exclaimed at the same time.

"Wow. Never seen one quite like that before," Reina said looking interested.

"Incredible! I wonder just where it came from. And why here?" Elsea added with excitement.

"And what's in it!" Guilmon poked his large dinosaurian nose between Takato and Henry.

"Unfortunately, we don't know those answers yet, but it's been preventing Surd, Sindramon, and also their minions from accessing this computer! It's helped us a lot so far, with most other communication means being disabled and all," said Gi.

"Yeah, any computer ya got, Surd can send those things right through it at ya," the white-haired man added. "By the way...name's Bannon. Race Bannon."

The Digimon tamer teens nodded.

"Yeah, uh...we about completely forgot our own introductions," Henry said. "I'm Henry. This is Takato."

Takato waved. "And uh...this is Guilmon!" Takato gestured toward the red dinosaur-like Digimon.

Guilmon cocked his head to the side and smiled. "Hello."

"And I'm Terriormon!" the rabbit-like Digimon bounced up onto Henry's shoulder and said cheerfully.

"I'm Elsea," Elsea said and once again made a curtsy.

"I'm Reina," she said with a nod.

"Lisa! Nice to meet you all!" Lisa said quite enthusiastically.

"Josh." He waved a hand out sluggishly.

"You know me already. Gi!" Gi said with a smile.

"And me, right? Name's Wheeler, anyway," he repeated with a thumbs up.

"I am Kwame. Very pleased to meet you," Kwame said with a nod.

"And I am called Linka," the blond-haired Russian-accented Planet Warrior chimed in.

"Uh...I'm Jonny." The blond teen pointed a thumb to his chest.

"Jonny..." Lisa put a hand to her chin.

"Quest."

"I knew it!" Reina exclaimed softly as Lisa smirked.

Jonny raised an eyebrow.

"Hey...weren't there five Planet Warriors?" Reina asked, looking over the group.

"Yes. Ma Ti is back in the medical facility," Gaia reassured them.

"This situation's been pretty hard on the little guy," Wheeler spoke up. "Uh...he used to have a pet monkey. It...didn't make it during the fight at the museum."

Elsea put her hand to her mouth.

"Hey, what about us?" Lorenzo called from behind.

"Oh yeah. Can't forget Surd's ex-goon squad," Jonny said casually. "That's Lorenzo and Julia. They used to work for Surd until he got put out of commission for the last time."

Lorenzo frowned at the teen. "Hey, we're not exed yet. We just dunno what's up with Surd right now."

Julia elbowed him. "Shut up, Lorenzo, you dolt! It'd be in our best interest to say the right things around these people until we find out what's going on with Jeremiah for sure," she whispered angrily.

"Hey! Knock off that whispering back there," Jonny scolded. "After all, you two are in no position to be plotting anything funny right now! We'll leave you both tied up outside as dinner."

"Well...So getting back to the plan of action, if we can manage to get one...what do we do about these Surd and Sindramon guys? We need some kind of battle plan here," Henry noted.

"So far, we know that Surd's become an even more twisted version of his old Questworld VR self. I dunno much about these Digimon things, but I do know that it looks Surd hooked up with one of 'em and got some really weird powers that's been making him a heck of a lot more dangerous than he used to be," said Jonny.

"He can control armies of these 'Nightmare Digimon,' it seems. And they seem to be regular Digimon that were mutated somehow, becoming abnormally strong and viciously predatory," Elsea added.

"Surd's sent them through our computer systems in attempt to kill us...but since we managed to get away, he's letting 'em loose all over the city now trying to find us. And innocent people are getting in the way!" Jonny pounded his fist on the table.

"A lot of innocent people. We gotta do somethin' about that fast," Race said, arms folded and a pensive look to him.

"Those guys tearing up the city...the Eco-villains?" Reina spoke up, "They're after you too, right?"

"Hey...one who looks like a rat! We saw a guy who looked like that! He attacked me back at the restaurant," Takato said suddenly after taking a good look at the hooded rat-like figure on Gi's computer screen. "Verminus Skumm. Hrm. But the one I saw looked different from this guy. Damn. This one's much creepier...and bigger."

"Ugh. That must mean Skumm's usin' his hench-rats, too. Great. The more, the merrier," Wheeler said with extreme annoyance.

"Oh, God. There's more creepy rat guys then?" Lisa whined and cringed.

"And they have their own Digimon as well, let's not forget," Elsea pointed to the screen imaged of the trio wrecking the city with their ominous looking Digimon. "X-Digimon, too, from the look of it. Just like ours."

"Only a lot more psychotically evil," Reina added.

"There does seem to be a small pattern here, after pulling through all the data we've collected on the attacks. Blight, Skumm, and Plunder have been attacking the city around this perimeter only," Gi moved her finger in a circle around the screen. "And the evil Digimon creatures have been coming mostly from right around here." Again, Gi circled her finger on the screen. Her circles were tracing around one particular building.

"That's a power plant downtown!" Elsea quickly noted. "Perhaps Surd and Sindramon have made it their current base? Certainly enough computer networks connected to send attacks through further into the city."

"Yeah. And that plant has four smaller ones backing it up around it," Race said while pointing to the four buildings spread out around the main one. "If Surd and that 'Sindra' thing can only get around by movin' through computers and electronic wires...then if we cut the power to the rest of the backup plants, they'll have nowhere to go and we can box 'em in!" He smacked his fist onto his palm for emphasis.

"Now that sounds like a plan!" Josh raised a finger to the air in agreement.

"Yeah. But if only it were that simple," Reina spoke up while chewing a finger. "We still got those other X-Digimon Anti-Eco guys to worry about...and Tengudramon. AND Devil Planet. I'm pretty sure once the bad guys catch wind of what we're trying to do, they won't all just stand around and let us do it. Besides, there's no way we could make this trap work unless we shut off the power to the backup plant's simultaneously, or Surd and Sindramon would just shoot off to another place real quick."

"True. That's why we should spit up into teams and do this fast, so they don't know what's hitting 'em!" Jonny said.

"Teams?" Henry questioned.

"Split up!" Takato shouted with worry.

"Sheesh. Don't worry...you guys can form your own team," Jonny said.

Race ran his fingers through his hair. "I'll take plant one. We're gonna need somebody to be a distraction, and it looks like I'm pretty distracting to Surd as it is."

"Race...you don't need to go by yourself," Jonny said to him with concern.

"It's okay, Jonny. I'll be fine. Besides, I'm not going by myself." Race glanced over at Julia and Lorenzo.

"Ah, man, Race. You can't trust those guys!" Jonny said with dismay.

"Yeah, but they'll do what I tell 'em or I'll use 'em as bait instead. Now. You and Hadji'd better stay here and let the rest of us do this," Race said.

"No way! We're coming, too. It's not like this isn't personal for me, too!" Jonny spat angrily.

"Jonny..." Race started.

"Surd's gonna pay for what he did to dad."

"Jonny, listen. I know you wanna pay Surd back for what he did to Benton, but you can't just go chargin' around ass-backwards. We've never dealt with anything quite like this before and this time Surd's a lot stronger than he's ever been. You gotta keep your head cool," Race said as he held Jonny by the shoulders and looked him in the eye sternly. "You don't have any super powers like these other kids here."

"Neither do you, Race!" Jonny said with visible upset.

"Yeah, but I got experience. And guns," Race said with a smirk. "Now...just please do what I told you. We'll take care of it. And if something happens...you two'll be out of danger and can help come up with a damn back up plan. Okay?"

Jonny looked down at his feet with a frown. "Yeah, I guess. But I'm not happy about it."

Race turned and looked at the other members of the group. "Okay. You Planet guys. You okay with splittin' up and goin' after plants two and three?"

The group nodded.

"Our powers are still usable, for now. We shall do this quickly, lest Devil Planet starts coming after us again as well," Kwame said with a nod.

"Yeah, we'll take some of the stuff the Quest guys gave us, too, for added support!" Wheeler gave a thumbs up again and flexed his metallic arm. "Hey, Linka. Wanna be on my team, babe?"

"I think you and Kwame vill do fine together, Vheeler," Linka said while folding her arms and glaring.

Race turned back to the tamer teens. "You guys okay with taking the fourth plant?"

The Digimon tamers nodded back.

"All right. Then let's move!" Race clapped his hands together.

The Planet Warrior teams quickly dispersed and went off to get supplies and the Geo Cruiser ready. Race walked over to Julia and Lorenzo, both sitting on the wooden bench.

"All right, rise and shine, you two. You're coming with me," Race told them with a stern glare.

"What now?" Julia asked looking quite cross.

"I'll fill ya in on the details when we get there," Race responded coldly.

"All right, guys! This looks like it's gonna be big and messy," Reina said to her fellow tamer teammates as they stood in a circle.

"Oh. Why can't this day just be over already?" Lisa whined.

"It will be when we finally save it!" Elsea said happily.

"This sounds like it's gonna be kinda tough," Henry said with a frown.

"Hey, anything's got to be better than that time with the D-Reaper," Takato reminded him.

"Ugh. Please don't mention that..." Henry said and shivered, trying not to have nightmarish flash backs.

"So...you guys think we can do this?" Reina asked the crowd.

"Do we really have much of a choice?" Josh said with a scowl.

Elsea put her hand out. "Team Tamers, then! For good luck!"

"Team Tamers?" Takato said with a weird look.

"Why do we even need a team name?" Josh asked, disinterest in his voice.

Elsea frowned and glared at the group. "Ahem. Come on, guys."

"Yeah guys, let's do this! Team Tamers!" Reina said and placed her hand on Elsea's.

"Team Tamers," Lisa said somewhat unhappily and placed her hand in as well.

"Erm..."

"Um...okay."

Takato and Henry joined in as well as the rest of the group, finally.

"Team Tamers."

Guilmon's large, clawed hand covered everyone else's on top of the hand pile.

"Team Tamers!"

"Hey, I can't reach!" Terriormon complained, wriggling his tiny hand in the air and jumping around.

Suddenly a gust of wind kicked up around the group and they turned to see a large yellow and white colored space ship-looking vehicle pulling up beside them.

"Whoa!" Reina exclaimed, holding her hair out of her face with her hand.

The ship landed and the wind died down. The door opened up and Wheeler stuck his head out. "Hey, all aboard!" He waved at them.

"Awesome!" Lisa yelled.

The teens piled inside, seeing the rest of the Planet Warrior group already there.

"We call it the Grand Geo Cruiser," Wheeler informed. "A little bigger than our old one, but still runs like a dream."

"And it's completely emissions free!" Gi said, sticking her head out from behind the driver's seat. "Buckle up."

"Hey, what about the other guys?" Henry asked, noticing that the Race guy wasn't around and neither were the two other handcuffed people.

"Race's takin' the Tempest Speeder," Wheeler pointed in the window as another slimmer, silver and white ship pulled up beside the Geo Cruiser. "Dont worry. We gave him lessons. He looks like he can handle it."

"We're all set to go, guys," Gi said and placed her headset on so she could communicate with the Speeder. "Are you all right in there, Mr. Bannon?"

The radio crackled and Race's voice came through. "Yep. I'm all set here. And my cargo is in lock down."

Inside the Speeder, Race was flipping a few switches. He glanced behind his seat once more at Julia and Lorenzo, who were both handcuffed to the rails of their seat. "Best buckle up, unless you two wanna go slidin' into a wall if I make a sudden turn."

Julia scowled back at him but grabbed her seat belt and put it on. Lorenzo quickly did the same. "How exactly do you plan to have us help you with these handcuffs on, might I ask?"

"Hold your horses. I'll take 'em off when the time comes for it," Race said and narrowed his eyes. "But I'm warning you both right now. Don't try anything. It's Surd we want right now. And if you jackasses do anything to jeopardize the mission, I swear I'll find that monster that took off that kid's arm and feed you both to it myself. Got it?"

Surd's former henchmen were quick to nod.

"Everyone..." Gaia's voice came through once again. "I'm opening up a portal leading back to the city."

The air began to swirl in a circle and soon an image of the city of Los Angeles appeared in the middle of it.

"I can't send you directly to the power plant area, but I'll get you as close as I can without drawing attention to it," Gaia's voice continued. "Be careful. And good luck!"

The two ships raised up and took off over the waters surrounding Hope Island and into the swirling portal.

Jonny stood, watching them go through the portal and the portal close and vanish.

"Damn."

Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned his head to see Hadji.

"I'm sure it will be all right, my friend. They will do their best to stop Surd. And we will do our best to help them, here," Hadji reassured him.

"It's still not fair, Hadj. Race's trying to keep Jessie out of this because she took revenge on Surd after he almost killed him and now he's after 'em both. I get that much. But why can't he let me take a shot at him for my dad? He's got no business keeping me out of the fight," Jonny said angrily.

"You know he means well, Jonny. Surd is a very dangerous man. He simply does not want any of us getting hurt-"

"Somebody already got hurt!" Jonny shouted and stomped off towards the large center building of Hope Island.

Bandit barked and followed, circling around Jonny's feet.

"Not now, boy," Jonny said softly as he walked into the medical area to the bed where his dad was lying motionless, hooked to a respirator and covered in bandages.

The sound of the heart monitor slowly beeping was the only thing that broke the overall silence of the room. Jonny sat down in the chair beside the bed and put his head in his hands.


	6. Chapter 6: Plan, Interrupted

A Digital Nightmare

**Chapter 6**

The streets surrounding power plant #4 were empty. The coast looked clear. Still, Henry couldn't help but have a bad feeling growing in the pit of his stomach as he kept looking around.

"Okay...things are clear over here," he whispered into the walkie-talkie he'd been given by Wheeler to use. "How about your end?"

"Fine over here," Reina's voice came through the device.

Henry felt kind of weird using walkie-talkies, seeing as how the group had just split up to walk on opposite sides of the street and weren't that far away. But if they made a lot of noise, it would surely attract unwanted attention.

The group of teens and Digimon neared the target building and prepared to go inside. Even if they did get there, they still had to wait for confirmation of the other groups. Tension was getting thick.

"It seems a little too quiet, don't you think, Henry?" Takato asked softly as he practically tip-toed behind him. "I sure hope we aren't walking right into a trap."

"Don't say things like that!" Henry responded in a louder whisper.

"Huh? Why?" Takato asked, looking puzzled.

"Because if you do, they'll happen," Henry said, half sarcastically.

"Okay you guys...let's head in while the heading's good," Reina's voice commanded.

"Roger," Henry responded.

Henry sped up his pace to a light jog, Terriormon clutching to his back. Josh, Takato, and Guilmon were right behind. Across the street, Elsea, Lisa, and Reina were running as well, heading toward the huge barbed-wire fenced gates that surrounded the building. The group met up with each other once again and stopped at the gates.

"Okay, so how're we gonna get in? We can't just waltz through the front door. Place looks like it's shut up real tight despite all the people working here being gone," Josh said once they all caught their breath.

"Leave that part to me. Er, to my buddy," Reina said and pulled out her Digivice. "Kurohoshimon! Activate!" she said softly.

Bright light flashed and Kurohoshimon stood before the group. Reina nodded at him. "Okay, Kuro. Digivolve and help us out here!"

Kurohoshimon nodded back. "Kurohoshimon...Digivolve!"

A circle of light surrounded the Digimon and then swirled up from the ground, engulfing his form completely. The swirling light continued to wrap around the Digimon, leaving only his silhuette visible in the midst. The form inside began to shift and change rapidly. At last, the white light shattered like a mirror and the 'shards' of light fell to the ground and vanished. Where Kurohoshimon had once been, stood his evolved form.

"Kagedramon!" the Digimon spoke in a whisper-like voice that nearly sounded like wind blowing through the tree leaves.

Kagedramon: Evolved form of Kurohoshimon. This Digimon stood around 5 feet and was much more slim and muscular looking. The outfit he wore was still composed mainly of black cloth and leather straps, except now there was also blue and gold armor pieces on his chest, arms, and legs. His headband that had once been red was silver in color and had a gold windmill style shuriken on it. A mask covered his face, obscuring everything but his bright blue eyes. The claws on his hands had become very long and much sharper looking, as well as his foot claws becoming much the same way.

Kagedramon stepped forward and brandished his claws. He very quickly swiped the air in front of the gate several times in succession and then stepped back.

After a moment, the pieces of metal fence peeled back and fell to the ground, sliced through quite cleanly. A nice large hole was cut through the fence, allowing the group entry.

"Thanks, Kage!" Reina said.

Kagedramon placed his clawed hands together and bowed.

"All right. Ladies first or something, right?" Josh said and ushered them in.

"Uh...guys!" Lisa's voice spoke up nervously and a bit louder than should have been.

The group turned to see her pointing at the large shadow that was moving across the ground a few blocks away. Upon looking up, the group saw Tengudramon circling around in the air.

"Come on, let's move, let's move!" Josh began shoving group members into the hole in the fence.

"Ow! Hey!" Takato yelped. Guilmon scrambled through and almost knocked him over.

Lisa ran and went through the hole as Josh frantically waved his hand. The shadow was drawing closer. Josh ducked inside and joined the rest of the group under the first deck of the parking garage.

"Shit. Hopefully he didn't see us," Josh said, his heart pounding.

"Hopefully he doesn't notice the _hole _in the fence...or anyone else, for that matter," Reina said, wiping sweat from her forehead.

"It is taken care of, for now," Kagedramon said, a claw raised in the air. "Shadow Technique! Mirror's Illusion."

Back outside, the hole in the fence vanished, replaced with his illusion of the piece that had been there before.

The teens were inside the main building after another round of door slicing from Kagedramon. The group moved down the hallways, looking for the main power room. They were still careful not to make much sound, just in case any roaming Nightmare Digimon were around or lurking inside, or any zombie personnel. Reina peeked her head around the corner as they all came to it. "Okay, you guys...it looks clear."

"Um...hey," Lisa suddenly spoke.

Reina turned and saw her biting her lip and staring in a farther direction down the hall. She was staring towards the women's restrooms. "I kinda gotta go. Bad!"

"Ah...now that she mentions it...me too!" Takato said, looking embarrassed.

"Um...I hate to have to agree," Henry said looking nervous. "It has been a while since..."

"Me too!" Terriormon said. Henry immediately took Terriormon from his back and set him on the floor.

"Oh man, now I gotta go, too," Josh said, looking a little angry.

Reina's eye twitched a little. "You have got to be kidding me."

"We'll be right back!" Takato said and hurried off with the others as they ran towards the bathrooms.

"I guess it can't really be helped," Elsea said with a shrug.

Reina sighed. "Well...maybe we should scout up ahead?"

Elsea nodded and the two girls began walking down the hall to the main power room. As they came closer, a man's voice could be heard speaking from the adjoining office room. The girls looked at each other and then back to the room where the voice was coming from.

"Should we go back and tell the others?"

"Should we go check it out?"

The two spoke at the same time. The girls paused and stared at each other for a moment. Oops.

"What do you think we should do?" they both asked each other at the same time, again.

Reina closed her eyes and shook her head while Elsea put a finger to her chin and tilted her head quizzically.

"Uh..." Reina tested speaking first. "Okay...how's about you go back and warn the others while I get check it out?" she suggested.

"Um...I kinda wanna go with you!" Elsea said, biting her finger nervously.

"Okay, okay. Let's both check it out. But we gotta just check it out and then hurry back to make sure the guys don't go off yelling down the halls or something by accident," she said to Elsea who nodded.

The two girls crouched and moved towards the inside window of the office. The man's voice got louder as they neared. He seemed to be having a one-sided conversation, as there was no other voice talking back to him. The girls reached the window and remained crouched underneath it. Reina put a finger to her lips signaling to be silent. Elsea nodded again. The two then slowly inched up and peeked over the concrete edge into the window. They could see a man with long brown hair tied back in a ponytail and wearing a green suit inside the office, sitting in a swiveling chair. He was speaking into a cell phone. Luckily, he wasn't paying much attention to his surroundings and didn't notice the top of the girls' heads as they watched him through the window. His conversation was audible through the thin walls of the room.

"Yes, yes. I'll get to it when I get to it. Right now, I'm taking a little...break." He paused for a moment, listening to the other end of the phone. "Because I can. Unlike you two, I'm reliable enough to not have to be checked on like a five year old every couple of hours." He paused again. "Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you destroyed half of downtown Los Angeles!" the man chuckled dryly. After another momentary pause he laughed softly again. "Oh, come now. No need to call me that, Dr. Blight."

"Blight?" Reina whispered to Elsea. "Wasn't that one of those evil guys' names?"

"That guy...he must be working with them!" Elsea whispered back.

The man in the chair casually swiveled a little as he crossed his legs. The girls could now see him more clearly.

"Or he _is_ one of the big shot evil guys!" Reina whispered again taking notice that the man looked exactly like the one Gi's computer back on Hope Island had depicted.

"What's he doing here? Oh...why of all times and places!" Elsea whispered with anguish.

"Takin' a break. You heard him," Reina whispered back sarcastically. "Come on, we gotta go back and tell the others right now! We gotta think of some way to get around this guy before we get contacted, or we're all gonna be the ones that screw over the plan!"

"Maybe we can beat him down before he notices us," Elsea whispered back to her.

The girls crouch-ran back down the hallway to a safe enough distance and then stood up and ran full speed. As they neared the corner back to the bathroom areas, they slowed down seeing Josh standing in the middle of the hall staring back at them with his eyes wide. He began waving his hands frantically at them but didn't speak. Reina and Elsea stared at him with confusion. Something was wrong. Josh shook his head back and forth and waved his hands at them seemingly to move away. He suddenly stopped then, acting as if nothing had happened and turning away. The girls had stopped halfway in the hall, luckily, and they soon saw what was wrong as a unsavory looking muscular man with a mustache and shaved head, dressed in a black leather vest, blue jeans, and combat boots, came up to Josh. He was holding a gun.

"Ay, you. Back over 'ere. None a you are gettin' outta my site!" the guy said coldly.

Reina and Elsea's hearts jumped into their throats. They realized Josh was telling them to try and escape before they were seen. The two turned heels and raced off back down the hall around the corner and out of sight as fast as they could. They didn't really want to leave their fellow team mates behind in danger, but they had no choice here. They couldn't call out their Digimon with guns pointed at their heads.

Hoping the guy in the office hadn't finished his phone conversation or moved from the spot he'd been in, the girls crept past the office window and then past the door. He wasn't even facing front anymore, now talking while flipping through a book on the desk he was sitting near. The girls ran to a relatively safe distance down the adjoining hallway and to a store room, then called out their Digimon.

"Oh man. Oh man. Damn it! This is bad," Reina panted in frustration while trying to catch her breath and calm down.

"I know. If there's anybody else here who finds us...the plan's done for. And...we might be, too!" Elsea grabbed her head, looking nervous.

"No, we won't allow that to happen," Nosfutoramon said. "We just need to get the drop on them first. Nosfutoramon, Digivolve!"

The swirling white light surrounded Nosfutoramon and her form rapidly changed into something larger and more powerful. The lights broke away then to reveal the newly evolved Digimon.

"Galgosmon!"

The new Digimon that stood ready to fight was 7 feet tall, having a slim body a bit like that of a kangaroo, with long powerful legs. The fur was light orange in color and many darker orange stripes lined the body. It also had a fox-like tail which ended in a white tip. The Digimon's arms were quite long as well, reaching down past its knees and ending in very large hands. Around the right wrist was a golden metal cuff with several protruding bolts on it, and around the left a green glove. A thick belt was on the Digimon's waist, decorated by several gold buttons and what looked like a little plush dog's head key chain toy with very long ears hanging down from it. The Digimon's upper chest had a purple armor plate covering it that had a large gold collar rising up from the sides and went around the back of its neck. The neck also had several gold metal loops around it. Its face was somewhat dog-like, with fur that stuck out on either side of its head, and a tuft sticking out from its forehead. Its ears were long and bent so that they drooped down a little. The ends of each of the ears were white.

"Don't worry. We will free them," Galgosmon said in a strong yet very feminine voice.

Kagedramon, who was now next to her, nodded silently in agreement. Reina and Elsea nodded to each other, both having determined looks on their faces.

10101

Back in the bathroom hallway...

"Oh boy. This is not good," Henry grumbled under his breath.

The bald guy with the gun and bad attitude had come from nowhere right after he and Takato had exited the bathroom. Josh had been caught moments later, and Lisa as well. If it wasn't for Josh managing to shoo away Reina and Elsea, they all would've been caught. Guilmon had also gone into the bathroom with Takato and was hiding inside a stall, listening to the group outside and wondering nervously what to do. Terriormon had been in the midst of getting a drink when the guy came along and shouted at Takato and Henry to stay where there were and put their hands up. He was currently lying motionless against the wall and playing 'doll' with a mouth full of water.

"You kids picked a bad spot to take a rest in, ey!" the muscle guy said with a sneer as he held up his gun. "Come on. We're going t'meet the boss. Down the hall, then. Let's move it!" He then forced the line of teens in front of him and made them walk down the hall.

As they went out of view Terriormon swallowed the water and leapt back to his feet, running into the bathroom. "Guilmon! Come out! Henry, Takato, and the rest are in trouble!"

Guilmon shoved the stall door open and came out. "What do we do, Terriormon? We can't Digivolve without Takato and Henry."

"We have to do something!" Terriormon said with worry. "Uh...oooh." He clutched his small head and tried to think. "I've got it!" Terriormon exclaimed suddenly. "We could pretend to be the mutant Digimon and maybe scare him off!"

"Is that a good idea?" Guilmon asked, biting a claw.

"We gotta try something fast. Desperate times call for desperate measures." Terriormon grabbed some toilet paper and began wrapping it around Guilmon's head.

"Ummm...Terriormon. What are you doing?" Guilmon asked as Terriormon continued to wrap him with toilet paper.

"I dunno! Just work with it," Terriormon said and jumped onto Guilmon's back.

10101

Reina, Elsea, and their Digimon krept back down the hallway. They could hear the two men talking more audibly now in the office.

"Mr. Plunder...I caught these kids hangin' around. What'cha want I should do with 'em?" Argos Bleak said to his employer Looten Plunder as the teens came into the room and lined up near the wall.

"Well, well. What're you kids doing wandering around during such a time?" Plunder asked as he looked them over. "It's pretty dangerous out there, you know."

"We just came in to use the bathroom," Josh said quickly. "And to get away from those creatures out there."

"Ah, I see. I see. Well, I suppose I can't hold that against you. But...you did pick quite a bad time to show up here. I'm afraid I'm very busy right now and I can't have teenagers wandering around and getting in my way. You're all just going to have to stay here for a while, I'm afraid," said Plunder. He picked his cell phone back up and flipped it open.

Henry shut his eyes. It was over. They could really use a distraction of some sort right about now.

Suddenly a loud roar echoed through the halls.

"What the?" Plunder turned his head and exclaimed.

Argos turned and raised his gun. "Ah, shit! It sounds like one a those things got in 'ere, Mr. Plunder! The ones what can't be controlled!" Argos looked pretty nervous.

"Damn! How? I thought this place was secured!" Plunder stood up and rummaged around in the desk drawer, eventually pulling out another gun. "Well, it doesn't really matter now. Bleak, shut the door!"

Argos quickly moved to the door and shut it, flipping up the lock as well.

"It seems they followed you in here, kids," Plunder said accusingly. "Hopefully they'll go away. If not...well, let's just say things might have to get ugly."

"Huh. Why not just use these ones as bait, Mr. Plunder?" Argos said with a menacing glare.

"Now, now, Bleak," said Plunder. " We're not brutes. Well, maybe _you _are."

The roar came again, louder this time. This time there seemed to be an eerie wailing with it.

"Um, hello? You guys know these things are really strong, right? They'd just bust in the door! Or come through the window!" Lisa shouted.

"Oy...shit. Ah, yeah, she's kinda right, boss!" Argos said with a nervous frown.

"Find out how many and how big. If need be, I'll use this!" Plunder pulled out a black X-Digivice from his jacket pocket.

Argos gulped and pointed to his chest. "Uh...me go out there, Mr. Plunder?"

"Yes, you dimwit! You've got a gun," Plunder ordered angrily.

Argos swallowed again and did as he was told, unlocking the door and opening it a little bit. "Guns don't do much against these damn things, though!" he muttered to himself as he slowly made his way out of the room and into the hallway.

The roar and wail came again, along with the sound of heavy stomping feet. Argos held his gun out in front of him, ready to fire as he waited for whatever it was to come down the hall and expose itself.

"RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRR!"

The growling roar was so close, it echoed loudly through the hallway and in Argo's ears, making him cringe. "Come on, you son of a bitch. Lemme see ya so's I can blow off yer ugly 'ead."

Suddenly from around the corner Guilmon jumped out, covered in toilet paper, claws raised. Terriormon was on his head, also covered in toilet paper, ears raised up. Together and covered in white, they looked a lot stranger and larger. Argos was caught by surprise as they both attacked after jumping out.

"PYRO SPHERE!"

"BUNNY BLAST!"

"AAAAAAH!" Argos screamed as the ball of flames and shots of glowing green energy hit him and sent him flying back. The gun flew from his hand and landed on the ground with a clatter. He batted off the flames that were lingering on his jacket and clambered to his feet. He tried to reach his gun but before he made it, a large pair of furry animal legs walked in front of him. Argos looked up and saw the tall, strange creature glaring down at him.

"Fuck me-" Argos squeaked in disbelief, his eyes going huge.

"HURRICANE KICK!"

Galgosmon's large foot slammed itself into Argos' face, followed by a jet of rushing water.

Guilmon and Terriormon gasped and moved out of the way as the man they had attacked went flying past them several feet down the hallway, eventually landing on his back with a heavy thud, the water splashing over him. The blow had rendered him unconscious and left him presumably with a broken nose.

"Eh?" Guilmon cocked his head to the side. His wing-like ears perked up upon seeing Reina and Elsea come running from around the other corner.

"Guys!" Reina exclaimed.

"What the heck is going on out here?" Plunder peeked his head out the office door and saw the two toilet paper covered Digimon standing in the hallway.

"Uh oh!" Guilmon gasped.

"Aaah!" Plunder gasped back. He then saw Argos lying there farther down the hallway. He turned his head quickly in the other direction and gasped louder upon seeing Galgosmon and the two girls. "What is this? Some kind of ambush?" He ducked back inside and slammed the door shut, locking it.

"I don't know what's going on here, exactly...but when I find out, all of you are gonna be really sorry!" Plunder yelled and pointed his gun at the remaining teens in the room with him.

Lisa screamed a little.

"Don't any of you try anything. I mean it!" Plunder waved his gun at them. "And you out there!" he yelled through the door, "If you don't want anything to happen to these kids in here, I suggest you don't try anything either!"

"Oh damn! Now what do we do? He's got the rest of the guys and now our cover's been blown!" Reina shouted.

"We can't just force our way in, either. He's got them as hostages!" Elsea shouted back clutching her ankh.

"We're sorry! We were trying to help," Terriormon moaned with frustration.

"No, it's okay! You did help! You got rid of that one guy, at least," Reina tried to reassure him. "Guilmon! Kick the gun over here!"

Guilmon tilted his head to the side.

"The gun! Shiny metal thing! Kick it down the hallway over here!" Reina pointed at it.

"What?" Elsea gasped.

"Hey, better us have it than him when he wakes up," Reina responded.

Guilmon got the gun in his foot claws and slid it with force down the hall to Reina. She grabbed it and gingerly gave it to Kagedramon. "Here, you know how to handle weapons!"

Kagedramon placed the gun between his clawed hands and made it vanish inside a small black ball of energy.

Back inside the office room, Plunder was held up beside the door out of view, keeping his gun aimed at the teens while he held his X-Digivice in the other hand.

"You don't want me to use either of these, trust me!" he threatened. "You there...get the phone and give it me." He motioned to Henry with his gun. "Hurry up!"

Henry swallowed and did as he was ordered. Plunder placed the Digivice back into his jacket pocket and took the phone from Henry. He flipped it open and began thumbing buttons. Henry knew if the guy called for backup or warned Surd, it was all over. He glanced up at the clock in the room. The time for everybody to be ready was almost coming up. They had to do something. Fast!

Suddenly Henry's eyes went wide. "Look!" he shouted.

Plunder turned and saw a large red creature smashing its face up against the window and bearing its teeth.

"AAAAAAH!" he screamed, dropped the phone, and fired his gun.

Guilmon dropped to the ground and covered his head before the bullet fired and smashed the window, sending little pieces of glass raining down on him. His thick hide prevented any injuries from it.

"NOW!" Henry yelled and kicked the gun from Plunder's hand.

The gun went flying right out the now glass free window and into the hallway.

"You little!" Plunder shouted and fumbled in his pocket for his Digivice again.

Josh slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. The rest of the teens made a mad dash for the door.

"Go, go, go!" Takato yelled as he flung the door open.

"The phone!" Lisa yelled as she ran.

"Never mind! Just go!" Josh yelled back.

Reina and Elsea were thrilled to see the rest of the group rushing out of the room, unharmed. They didn't stop running, however.

"We gotta get to the power room to shut it off! Just keep going! We'll deal with them all later!" Henry yelled hysterically.

"He's right! Go!" Reina yelled as she turned and ran with them toward the main power room.

The group ran to the main power room and slammed into the doorway at once.

"Shit, you guys!" Lisa screamed.

"We did not plan this all through very well, did we?" Josh placed a hand to his head in pain as he struggled against the other bodies.

"I hate this day soooo much," Reina growled, being smushed between Henry and Josh.

Elsea managed to squeeze her way out through the middle and ran to the control panel which was still lit up and blinking.

"It...should be...any...MINUTE NOW!" Henry managed to pull himself out and the rest of the group fell to the ground on top of each other.

Right on cue, the walkie-talkie in his pocket beeped. Henry pulled it out and turned it on. Race's voice came through, "You guys ready on four?"

"READY!" the group shouted in unison.

"Then pull the big yellow lever!" Race commanded through his side of the walkie-talkie, his hand on the large yellow lever in the main power room of plant #1.

"Loud and clear," Wheeler acknowledged at plant # 2 and pulled the lever down.

Back at plant # 4, Elsea tugged the lever down with all her might and the lights went out.

"We did it! We did it! We're not screwed!" Takato yelled triumphantly. "...Well, not completely!" he said remembering the other guy they still had to deal with.

The small emergency safety lights set here and there came on then, giving them at least some light to see in.

"Don't worry, we can take that Plunder guy, no sweat. We totally outnumber him! Our Digimon'll beat his ass into the ground," Lisa said with a determined look.

"Well, we still dunno how powerful his Digimon is yet. He did have an X-Digivice," Reina reminded her.

"Ch. How powerful could it be? No more than those other ones the other guys had, right?" Lisa scoffed.

"Uh...Lisa. Those other ones were blowin' down _buildings_, remember?" Reina said with her eye twitching slightly again.

"Oh yeah..." Lisa put a finger to her lip and frowned.

Suddenly, the door behind them flew open with a loud slam. Looten Plunder stood ominously in the doorway, an angry scowl on his lips. His X-Digivice was in his hand, glowing.

"Well now. If you're all quite finished here. It's time for you to be leaving now. Preferably...in body bags!"


	7. Chapter 7: The Wrath of Devil Planet

A Digital Nightmare

**Chapter 7**

A wind began to swirl around Looten Plunder as the light from his X-Digivice glowed stronger.

"I warned you not to make me use this. Well, now I'm using it!" Plunder shouted and raised his Digivice into the air, pressing his thumb over a button.

A bright red light engulfed him. He raised his arms out to the sides as the swirling lights came over his body and slowly changed his outfit. His usual attire was morphed into an even more elaborate looking suite of black with gold tiger-like striped fur on the collar and cuffs, and a white tie. Plunder also had a large gold ringed belt around his waist.

Plunder's Digivice produced at the same time, a new enemy X-Digimon.

Ardusmon: a Chaos Digimon. It appeared as a large doberman-like canine with blue and gray fur. Large bone-like spikes trailed down its back and also protruded from its hind legs. It had various metallic silver looking markings going down its back in a design, and also more circular ones on both shoulders. The front legs of the Digimon both had iron shackles above the paws, each studded with large sharp spikes. The head of the beast was covered by a purple mask that had white markings all over it. Spiky white hair jutted out from the back of the Digimon's head and down its neck a ways.

As the light vanished, Plunder and his snarling Digimon stood before the group of teens and their Digimon.

"Now, Ardusmon! Attack them!" Plunder commanded.

His Digimon sprang forth and unleashed several pointed shards of what looked like ice from its body and mouth.

"_Blaze Frost Blade!_"

Solardramon was at the ready and lunged forward, blasting Solar Flare at the incoming ice chunks to melt them. To his shock, the shards didn't dissolve and kept coming.

"What?" the Digimon gasped, the shards still flying straight towards his body.

Keirauramon jumped out in front of him and thrust forth her hands. "RUBY BEAM!" A streak of red shot from her palms and collided with the shards, blasting them away.

"Damn, that was close!" Josh said with relief.

"Too close. Kagedramon! Go for it!" Reina yelled and her partner Digimon went flying over her in a flash, prepared to engage in combat.

Kagedramon cartwheeled and flipped toward Ardusmon, moving so fast he appeared almost as a whirling blur. Ardusmon still shot his frost blades at him anyway and they stuck in the ground where Kagedramon's shadow had been seconds earlier. Finally after somersaulting right over Ardusmon's head, Kagedramon flung open his arms and unleashed a barrage of shurikens.

"SHURIKEN STORM!"

The spinning metal stars hit their target, embedding one after another in the Chaos Digimon's body. Ardusmon growled but didn't seem all that fazed by the attack. He instead reared up and snapped his jaws at Kagedramon, nearly missing catching him by an instant as Kagedramon jumped out of the way. The sound of the Digimon's teeth clacking together was quite loud.

"Don't let up, guys!" Elsea cheered.

Galgosmon rushed forward and began attacking.

"BEAT RUSH!" she shouted. Her legs and arms moved furiously as she delivered blow after blow to Ardusmon. Even with all the pummeling, Ardusmon seemed to simply shrug it off.

"SPINNING..." Galgosmon began, "BODY SLAM!" She then noticed Ardusmon's wicked grin.

"_Crystal Damnation!_" Ardusmon snarled and spears of ice began to instantly rise from around his body, up and right into Galgosmon.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Galgosmon screamed in pain as several of the pointed shards of ice pierced her legs like swords. She had moved just in time enough to only be hit with a minimal amount.

Galgosmon fell back and to the ground in a heap. "Ugh!" she groaned.

"Galgosmon!" Elsea screamed, tears welling in her eyes. She rushed to her injured Digimon.

"I'm...all right," Galgosmon told her tamer sternly. "We've got to be careful. He's far too strong for us in our current state."

Plunder's laugh echoed through the room. "Ah, well done! Well done!" he cheered his own Digital monstrosity on with wicked abandon. "You see, my dear children...you shouldn't meddle in the affairs of grown ups. Especially not when they can wield a monster far superior in strength to the ones you have! Hahaha!"

"This looks really bad. I think we should try to suck it up and run for it!" Takato yelled, holding a snarling Guilmon back.

"Shit...how can we even run for it? He's blockin' the damn way out," Josh said angrily with clenched fists.

"We'll just have to make our own damn emergency exit, then!" Reina said and pointed to the back wall.

Kagedramon made multiple slashes at the concrete wall which broke apart in pieces, leaving a large hole for them to escape through.

"Go! We'll try to keep 'em off," Reina yelled. "Josh, back me up!"

"Right!" Josh yelled and nodded. "Solardramon! Digivolve!"

Solardramon exited Josh's X-Digivice and quickly formed into a much larger version of himself covered from head to foot in bright orange metallic armor with golden markings decorating it. The armored gauntlets covering his arms had huge claws on them, which he swung forward and into the air while giving a deafening roar. This time both the Digimon's hair and tail tip were made of blazing flames.

"Metal Solardramon!" he boomed.

Metal Solardramon charged at Ardusmon, the ground shaking a bit as he stomped along.

"Radiant Inferno!" He opened his mouth wide and a huge fire blast headed for the enemy Digimon.

Ardusmon quickly jumped out of the way and the fireball blasted right through the wall where he'd just been. Even Plunder had run off into a farther corner of the room. The wall had a gaping hole in it, the edges around it still burnt and smoking.

Ardusmon snarled again and snapped his jaws. "Ha. You won't win this fight," he growled wickedly.

"And neither will you, dog breath," Reina snapped back with a smirk. "NOW!"

Suddenly the roof sliced apart and chunks of the ceiling began crashing down into the room. Metal Solardramon turned and grabbed Josh, rushing through the falling chucks to safety. Kagedramon sped down from the ceiling and scooped up Reina into his arms, leaping out the hole in the wall as well. The Digimon set down their tamers onto the grass outside.

"All right!" Josh shouted and raised his hand out to her.

"Woo hoo!" Reina high-fived him back.

The rest of the group was waiting outside for them and watched as the building partially collapsed.

"Whoa! You guys really did a number on the place!" Lisa exclaimed. "I hope those jerk offs are down for the count in there."

"Somehow...even with all that, I wouldn't count on it," Reina said, looking back at the forming rubble.

"We got better things to worry about. Look!" Henry said pointing to the nearby plant #3. The lights were still on.

"Ah, damn. Somebody got held up?" Josh stumbled forward and brushed the dust from his hair.

"We should maybe check it out?" Lisa inquired.

Henry pulled out his walkie-talkie and pressed the button. "Hey...come in? Anybody? Mr. Bannon?"

The radio crackled and Race's voice came through with a bit of static. "I read ya. You guys all right? We saw what looked like an explosion and then the place came down."

"Uh, we had a little bit of an incident but I think we're okay for now. Where are you guys?" asked Henry.

The wind picked up around the group and the Tempest Speeder came into view above them. "Right above ya."

The Speeder landed nearby and the group rushed over to the door as it opened. "What happened?" Race shouted over the engine.

"We got attacked inside! It was Looten Plunder. He has an X-Digivice, too. Containing a really strong Digimon. Chaos level!" Reina shouted back.

"A what?" Race asked loudly and in confusion.

"Never mind, it would take too long to explain!" Reina said.

"What happened to plant three's team?" Henry asked, staring in the direction of the lighted building.

"Guess they got held up by something. Or someone," Race responded. "Let's go check it out."

Race was about to pull his head back into the ship when he took notice of Metal Solardramon. "Whoa, nelly! That one's had a mighty big growth spurt. I'm afraid he's not gonna fit in here too good."

Josh turned and recalled Metal Solardramon back into his Digivice. "Sorry! I forgot." He jogged up the ramp and into the ship with the rest of the group.

"It's still gonna be a tight squeeze with all a ya in here," Race admitted.

The teens were grouped together tightly in the seats of the ship and in the middle aisle as well. Guilmon was taking up most of the small cargo area in back. Terriormon was smashed almost to the ceiling on Guilomon's head.

"Guh. I think I'd feel better stuffed into one of the overhead compartments!" Terriormon whined.

"We have got to get some of those X-Digivices," Takato complained.

"You guys should really look into upgrading," Lisa said, trying not to shove her elbows any further into Reina's side.

Lorenzo and Julia were still seated in the front row of the ship, still handcuffed to the rails, and now awkwardly crunched between the teenagers.

"Oh, what I'd give to be back in jail," Julia griped. "I'd have rather been devoured by mutant beasts than subjected to these repeated humiliations."

"Ah, don't worry, Julia. We can go fix that for ya if ya want it so badly," Race said casually without even giving her a glance.

"Don't tempt me, Bannon," Julia snapped back.

"Uhhhh...can you fly a little smoother, please," Takato said with a grimace. "I...think I'm getting air sick."

Lisa, Reina, and Elsea's eyes widened and they squirmed to the side. Takato was situated right next to Josh and Lorenzo.

"Kid...you'd better be jokin'," Lorenzo said and pulled away as far as he could while Julia scowled and was forced to do the same.

"Oh please, Takato," Lisa pleaded. "Don't!"

"Ah, jeez," Race muttered.

The Speeder flew to the grassy lawn in front of the plant #3 building. The group saw the Planet Soldiers Gi and Linka come running outside. Race opened the door and stepped out onto the platform, assault rifle slung over his shoulder.

"It's Devil Planet!" Gi shouted as she ran up. "He's got Wheeler and Kwame trapped inside!"

"Oh crap! Not good!" Lisa started panicking and threw off her seat belt.

"We gotta help 'em!" Henry squirmed free.

Reina, Josh, and the rest of the teens followed, piling out the door of the Speeder.

Gi was panting heavily as if she'd been run out of breath. "We came back to check on them after pulling the levers. But they didn't answer. And then...and then he..."

"Devil Planet appeared and attacked us all. Ve think he vas followink Vheeler and Kwame!" Linka tried to speak, equally as out of breath as Gi.

Gi spoke up again, "We barely managed to get away from him. Thank goodness you showed up when you did!"

"All the power grids are out 'cept this out now?" Race asked quickly.

Gi nodded. "Luckily we managed to get three down. But with this one still up, Surd could still simply move to the nearby chemical plant and on from there if he gets wind of us!"

"Then we gotta do this fast," Race said and started running for the blown-open gates.

"Wait! It's too dangerous!" Gi called after him. "Devil Planet is too strong!"

"He's gotta have some kinda weakness!" Race called back.

"That man is nuts," Henry said clutching his head.

"But he's right..." Gi said after a moment of thought. "Devil Planet _should_ have a weakness. The same weakness as Captain Planet!"

"Bozhe moi! Pollution!" Linka exclaimed.

"The chemical plant!" Gi said turning her head towards its nearby direction.

10101

Farther inside the building, Race crept along the nearby wall and listened for any warning sounds of a fight. It was eerily quiet. He hoped the two kids were still alright.

"Damn. None of my combat trainin' ever woulda prepared me to deal with anything like this, that's for sure," he muttered to himself as he pulled the gun off his shoulder and placed his finger on the trigger and continued moving forward.

After a few more steps Race heard the sound of running water close by. Water was leaking somewhere and covering the hallway floor. Race saw that a large hole in the wall which had several broken water pipes inside of it was the source of the leak.

"Bingo," Race said softly as he headed down the destroyed hallway.

In addition to several chunks of missing wall and ceiling, there were also scorch marks in the concrete. However, Race couldn't really tell if the destruction was caused by the Planet teens fighting Devil Plant, or by Devil Planet himself.

Suddenly, a splash came from the adjoining hallway nearby. Race turned quickly, raising his gun up. He was somewhat relieved when Wheeler came running around the corner, his sneakers splashing in the pools of water. Kwame was right behind him. Kwame's face lit up a little when he saw Race.

"Mr. Bannon!"

"Oh man," Wheeler said, slowing down and panting a little. "Sorry to tell ya this, Mr. B...but I don't think that gun's gonna help us out any."

"Yes, Mr. Bannon. Please know that we are very much against the use of guns, even if Captain Planet has become our enemy," Kwame said with dismay.

Wheeler looked slightly annoyed. "I'm all against violence and stuff, but given the situation here...I'd say a little bit of tough love'd be a _good _thing. I kinda meant that I don't even think a gun'd be much use in slowin' Devil Cap down."

"Somethin's gotta slow him down. Everything's got a weak point somewhere," said Race while he eyed the halls. "Where'd you last leave him at?"

"We-" Wheeler began but a loud crash stopped him. The group turned and saw the wall at the end of one of the hallways broken through, and Devil Planet emerging.

"Shit!" Wheeler yelled and pointed his ring defensively. "Kwame!"

Kwame quickly joined Wheeler, aiming his own ring. Race aimed his gun despite what he'd just been told. It was still worth a try.

"Found you," Devil Planet snarled.

"Fire!"

"Earth!"

Wheeler sent a blast of flames from his ring at Devil Planet and Kwame caused the walls in front of him to collapse as the ground beneath came up and formed a barrier.

"We must keep running! It will not hold him long!" Kwame shouted and turned, starting down the hall.

"Good idea!" Race agreed and joined the two teens.

Behind them, the pile of rock and dirt shifted slowly as Devil Planet used his own control over earth to push it back out of the way. He stepped through and thrust out a clawed hand.

"Fools! Take this!" he growled and lowered his hands to the ground. Upon raising them back up, a large ripple like someone shaking out a carpet appeared in the ground and began rapidly moving towards the running trio.

"Oh no!" Kwame yelled, seeing the incoming bump over his shoulder.

The dirt bulge caught up with them and slammed into their legs, knocking them off their feet and sending them riding over it down the hallway.

"AAAAAAAAAH!" the trio screamed in unison as they were forced down the long hallway and smashed though a hole in one of the walls.

"Ahhh...dammit!" Wheeler groaned, his aching body covered in cuts, bruises, and dirt.

The group attempted to get back to their feet as fast as they all could, despite the pain. Race dusted himself off a little and scrambled to dig out his rifle which had become partially buried.

"It is...no good. Whatever we throw at him, he can simply throw back at us, and with much more power," Kwame said, shaking the dirt from his head. "And we cannot evade him forever."

"And worse...out rings are almost gettin' out of juice!" said Wheeler, showing his ring's red globe beginning to flicker and grow dimmer.

Kwame noticed his own ring's green globe doing much the same. "We must get back to the others."

"Yes, please do," Devil Planet's voice came from above them. "Then I can destroy all of you at once!"

He leapt down from the ceiling and landed with a thud on a pile of nearby broken concrete, claws raised and tail lashing back and forth.

"Aww, damn. Now we're in a spot," Race muttered. He rolled and fired his rifle at the blue humanoid raptor creature.

Devil Planet thrust out his clawed hands and formed a wind gust that stopped the bullets in mid-air.

"Aww, shit!" Race exclaimed, knowing what was predictably coming next.

Devil Planet blasted the bullets back at the group with his wind gust. Wheeler and Kwame dove away as the bullets hit the ground around them. Race did the same, rolling away behind a piece of the wall. A bullet hit into the side of it seconds later.

"Please, Captain! You must listen to reason!" Kwame yelled in desperation.

"No time!" Wheeler yelled back and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him away as they tried to make an escape again.

"Run! Just run!" Race yelled back, leaving his rifle behind.

Devil Planet gave a roar and charged.

"Vheeleeeeeeeeer!" Linka's voice rang out from down the hall.

Wheeler stumbled over a pile of rubble and dropped to his knees. Kwame and Race followed, accidentally falling over him. The three landed in a pile on top of each other, expecting doom at any moment.

"Linka?" Wheeler managed to gasp anyway. He looked up and saw her and Gi running towards them.

"No, don't! He's coming!" Wheeler choked out.

"GRAAAAAAAH!" Devil Planet snarled, appearing right behind the fallen group. His eyes raised from them and locked on the two approaching girls.

Linka and Gi both had strange guns with hoses attached to large heavy plastic backpacks, which they were pointing at him. They fired and streams of a yellow-greenish liquid sprayed out and onto Devil Planet. Devil Planet gave a loud roar of what sounded like pain. He recoiled and jumped back from the spray of liquid.

"Whaaaaaat?" Devil Planet raged, looking down and seeing the burns forming on his blue flesh where the spray had hit him.

"It's working! Hit him again! Back him off!" Gi shouted to Linka.

"Right!" Linka nodded to her and began firing at Devil Planet's feet.

Devil Planet quickly jumped back and away from the streams of whatever it was that was damaging him so badly. He snarled again in anger and slipped up into the ceiling hole, vanishing from view.

"Vheeler! Kwame! Mr. Bannon! Are you all right?" Linka came running over to them.

"We are now, thanks to you guys!" Wheeler said, rubbing his head as he got back up. "What the heck is that stuff?"

"We siphoned some of the chemicals from the plant nearby. Pollution still works on Devil Planet. We can use it to weaken him and keep him at bay, for now," Gi said.

"Man...why didn't we think of that earlier?" Wheeler said with a raised eyebrow.

"Too busy panicking, I'd say," Race added dryly.

"You might be right on that one," Wheeler admitted, hands behind his head.

"Ve don't have time to play around right now! Ve've got to go get to the last svitch!" Linka scolded.

"We were supposed to be distracting Planet, but he ran!" Gi said with worried look. "The other team was going in to shut down the power while we kept him busy...but not I'm afraid he's going to go off and find them now."

"Didn't you give somebody one of those spray packs?" Wheeler asked.

"Yes...but there were only three available. So they only have one person armed," Gi responded.

"And now Devil Planet knows about them!" Linka added. "Oh...this is not good. Ve have gotten everythink screwed!"

"We're not screwed yet, babe," Wheeler said sternly, "I got an idea."

10101

The main power supply room for plant#3...

The Digimon tamer team had their eyes set on the goal of disabling the last power supply switch. Henry and Josh were just about to reach out and pull the yellow lever down when a window smashing open caused everyone to gasp and stare. Devil Planet came flying down in a swirl of wind and glass shards. He landed on the ground before the surprised teens and snarled.

"Whoa! Distraction failed!" Henry shouted nervously. "Time for plan B!"

"I'm on it!" Takato sprang out from behind a nearby door, a spray pack on his back. He raised the gun and fired in Devil Planet's direction.

Devil Planet growled angrily again and withdrew, some of the spray hitting him on the arm before he got away. "Little vermin! You won't be able to defeat me with that!" he said menacingly, quickly did the ominously familiar hand signs, and swung his hand out.

"Devil's...Swirling..." he started and the globe of light began forming in his palm.

"Uh oh!" Takato squeaked and gulped. He slid the switch that controlled the size of the stream of spray forward to maximum and fired again.

"VORTE-" Devil Planet was cut off by the forceful jet of chemical cleaner hitting him in the face.

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The attack energy dispersed as Devil Planet lost concentration and wailed in pain and anger, holding his masked face in his clawed hands. The chemical had gotten into his mask's eye holes, and most of the stream had hit him in the chest afterward. He stumbled forward and slashed where Takato had been moments earlier, tearing apart a desk. He began swinging his claws wildly, looking to slash through anyone who might be nearby.

"Look out!" Josh yelled and dove out of the way as Devil Planet started coming near them.

Henry fell to the ground and nearly missed getting slammed by Devil Planet's tail as it swung past his head. He rolled away and Lisa helped him up.

"Solardramo-" Josh started to call out but Devil Planet's tail swung out again and knocked him off his feet. He landed with a thud and his Digivice went flying from his hand and out the doorway into the hall. "Shit!" he yelled.

Before anyone else could do much of anything, Devil Planet brought his fist down onto the control panel, smashing right through it. There was a small explosion and electricity sparked while pieces of metal flew to and fro. The lights flickered and then shut off. In his blind rage Devil Planet had destroyed the power console, effectively shutting down the plant himself.

"I don't believe it!" Elsea exclaimed. "It's off!"

"Then let's get the hell outta here!" Takato shouted.

The group of teens scrambled off as Devil Planet pulled his hand free of the tangle of wires inside the smashed control panel. The yellow shut down switch fell off to the side, dangling from some sparking snapped wires.

Urggg!" Devil Planet pulled off his mask and blasted a hole in the wall nearby, busting some of the water pipes. He then formed the spewing water into a ball which he splashed into his face. His eyesight was still very blurry from the previous attack but he looked around, blinking until his vision returned. He would definitely make the pitiful little humans regret having done that.

10101

Elsewhere...

Surd's eyes popped open as he felt the power surging and fading suddenly. It felt as though several of the connections around him had vanished.

"What's this?" he mused as he looked around.

Inside the computer systems of the downtown power plant where Surd was waiting patiently for his minions to flush out the Quests and Bannons, the display began showing multiple detached connections. The grid showing the main power and the surrounding paths to other computer connections began slowly fading from lit to darkened gray until it showed only the main computer system in the main power plant building as active. Surd's surrounding connections had been effectively cut off. He had taken notice of the previous simultaneously downed connections before but hadn't really thought much of it. It appeared as though they had been deliberate and not accidents from his rampaging minions. Surd smirked. So they were trying to trap him...

"It seems they've come up with a little plan. How quaint!" Surd said with amusement. "Well that could have actually done some damage earlier on. But now that you're finally ready to hatch..."

Surd turned and glanced at the grid of pulsing lights behind him. In the middle of the grid was a very large black Digimon egg with two sets of pointed bat-like wings jutting out the sides of it. The egg looked as though it had gray veins running throughout it, and a set of claws near the bottom that wrapped around, appearing as if it was holding the egg. In the egg's middle was a large orb which was covered by a black lid. The lid began slowly opening, revealing a single, glowing red eye.

Surd's laugh echoed throughout the strange computer dimension. "Well, let them think they've trapped me, then. And let them come. Little will they know that they'll be walking right into _my_ trap, instead." Surd wrung his black clawed hands. His perpetual devious smile grew even more sinister. "When they get here...we'll have some fun with them, won't we?" He threw back his head and laughed, clawed hands open and arms outstretched.

Surd's maniacal cackle rang out loudly as a red swirl of light began to form around the Digimon egg.

10101

Now outside of plant #3 and running for their lives, the Digimon tamer teens, Planet Soldiers, and Race Bannon headed for the chemical plant to take refuge in. If nothing else, they'd have more potential ammo to combat Devil Planet in there.

"Do you see him comin'?" Race shouted, his eyes still forward on the approaching smashed open gate.

"Uh...so far, no!" Terriormon said, staring from his backwards position on Henry's back.

Terriormon noticed something leap out a window and land on the grass in front of the building.

"But now I do!" Terriormon yelled, ears raised. "He's coming!"

The group sprinted even faster, clambering up the steps to the front doors. Guilmon simply rushed forward and smashed them out. Everyone piled easily through the now doorless doorway.

"Fill the tanks back up! Guilmon, Digivolve! Do something!" Takato panicked.

"Hide!" ordered Race.

"Huh?" came the response from several.

"Just do it!" Race commanded.

Everybody scrambled to hide themselves as best they could.

"What the heck are we doing?" Henry muttered from his position beneath a large metal desk. "The damn guy could just bring the entire place down on our heads if he really wanted to!"

"He's probably got a plan," responded Terriormon, who was next to his tamer.

"I hope it's a good plan, because so far all the plans we've had sure have failed pretty miserably today," Henry said, looking frustrated.

10101

Devil Planet had entered the building and was stalking slowly down the halls, checking for traces of the enemy humans.

"Where are you, you filthy humans?" he muttered to himself. "You can't hide from me for long."

His toe claws clicked softly on the linoleum floor as he walked. His large feet and legs passed by a wooden desk, beneath which Elsea was hidden. His tail gently bumped against it and made her jump a little. She gritted her teeth and froze, holding her very breath in hopes that Devil Planet wouldn't inadvertently find her. Thankfully, he just kept walking and moved away. Elsea softly let her breath back out and slumped to the floor, her heart pounding. Too close.

Devil Planet continued his search. His eyes scanned left and right, looking for his prey. A soft growl came from deep inside his throat. If only the foul smelling chemical vapors weren't choking the place, he might have been able to sniff the damn humans out if he tried hard enough. No matter. He'd find them eventually, or perhaps just tear the place apart until it crumbled and flush them out that way. Planet's head whipped around as he heard a faint noise. His eyes narrowed and a snarl formed on his lips.

Reina and Lisa both watched from their spot in the lower air duct vent as Devil Planet slipped back out into the hallway and disappeared around the corner.

"Okay, I think it's clear. Let's go," Reina said and began pushing the vent covering back off. She was stopped by Lisa grabbing her arm gently.

"Wait! What if he's still out there?" Lisa pointed out nervously.

"He's going after Race. And we gotta back him up!" Reina told her.

Lisa looked apprehensive, but nodded anyway.

"O-okay."

Elsewhere in the building, Race was knocking on pipes lining the walls every few feet as he was walking. He moved slowly, turning backwards and stepped around while looking every which way Devil Planet could possibly be approaching. Race knew that he might even just come smashing down from the ceiling. He wasn't about to underestimate anything this time around.

"Come on out, big boy. Let's play," Race said quietly. The tension was beginning to get to him a little.

"I'm right here, human," Devil Planet's voice finally sounded.

He stepped around the corner, quite non-chalantly instead of making a dynamic entrance. He stared Race down with his red eyes, his clawed arms folded across his chest. Race stared back at him with defiance but was tense and prepared to move in an instant.

"Well, then. What'cha wanna do?" Race asked casually. "You wanna try to take another swipe at me, or should I go first?"

Devil Planet laughed at the white haired man before him. "If you think you can hit me, human. Go right ahead!"

"Okay. You gonna let me get out my gun first?" asked Race as he held out his hands to the sides as if preparing for a Western showdown.

Devil Planet simply laughed again, harder. "Sure! Go right ahead. It seems you humans have very short term memory," he responded with visible amusement.

Race slowly reached down and took the hand gun he was keeping in his ankle holster out. "Okay then."

Race quickly pointed and fired several shots...all of which were into the pipes surrounding Devil Planet. Before Devil Planet knew what the human had done, the chemicals within the pipes began spraying out all over him.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Planet screamed and dropped to his knees.

Race fired two more shots into the pipes, making sure Devil Planet was thoroughly surrounded by the gushing fluid. He then backed up and raced off down the hall. Devil Planet's scream of rage echoed loudly behind him.

Devil Planet mustered his strength and pushed up the ground around him. He then buried himself in it and tunneled through, beneath the toxic chemicals above. After a few yards to safety, he punched through again and gave a primal scream. His body was covered in burns.

"I _WILL_ KILL YOU, HUMAN! I WILL TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB WHEN I FIND YOU!" Devil Planet screamed.

Meanwhile, Lisa and Reina were busy running toward the position they'd be told to take.

_"You guys all stay here, okay? I'm gonna lead him down to the processing tank area," Race told the tamers group right after he told them to hide. The Planet Soldiers had already been instructed to head around to the tank area and hide themselves there. "You guys back us up after I lure him down there, okay? And if something goes really wrong, you guys just get the hell out and take the Speeder. I set it to auto-pilot just in case, so it'll take ya back the island. Call Jonny and Hadji through the communicator I left on the seat anyway, and tell 'em you got trouble."_

_The teens all nodded quickly and then hid themselves._

"What if something goes wrong, Reina?" Lisa whined.

"Then we get the hell outta here!" Reina said, repeating what they'd been told to do.

"But...we can't just leave!"

Reina looked at her and smiled. "Then we just have to make sure nothing goes wrong!"

"With the way this day's been going, that's way easier said than done." Lisa pouted.

"It'll work out," Reina said with certainty as she came to a large metal door and opened it. "Okay...we've gotta be really careful now."

There were warning and biohazard signs posted on the door.

"One wrong move, and we got cancer. Or worse," Reina said half-joking, half-serious.

"If this works and stops Captain Planet...I wonder what'll happen to him after?" Lisa wondered aloud. "I mean...what if we end up like..._killing _him?" she asked nervously.

Reina didn't really have an answer for that and shrugged. "I dunno. Even though I never cared for him much, I kinda really don't wanna think what'd happen to the earth if Cap got killed!"

"Or about the fact that we'd all be responsible for doing it!" Lisa lamented.

"Well, somebody's gotta stop him. He's killin' people! And he's tryin' to kill us!" Reina pointed out with a raised finger. "It sucks that happened to him, but the situation is getting too far out of hand here. And besides, there's still all those other guys with enemy Digimon out there. Cap...er...Devil Planet out there breathin' fire down our necks just makes it a lot worse."

"I know," Lisa said and hung her head down. "I guess...I'm just really nervous."

"Me too," Reina told her, "But we gotta try and do this." She pulled the walkie-talkie from her pocket and held it. "I hope the other guys are coming fast."

They both jumped as the radio's light flashed and it lightly vibrated. It was set to go off silently. Reina pressed the button.

"Guys?" she asked.

"Reina!" Elsea's voice came through the other end happily. "You guys are in position?"

"Yeah! How're you guys doing?" Reina asked back.

"Fine! Everything seems to be going smoothly on our end," Elsea said, looking over the railing and down into the floor area of where the large chemical tanks were sitting as she kneeled on the side walkway. Henry and Terriormon were a few feet away, keeping down low as well. "I saw the Planet Soldiers as they came in. So far there's no sign of Race...or Devil Planet yet," she continued.

"Okay, got'cha," Reina's voice said back and the radio once again became silent.

Elsea pocketed her walkie-talkie and pulled out her Digivice. Galgosmon was trying to heal, but was still not fully recovered enough to be much help if they had to fight again. She bit her lip gently.

"Are they okay?" Henry asked.

Elsea gave a nod. Henry looked relieved.

Farther off towards the back of the building,Takato and Josh were hiding themselves in one of the office rooms. Josh was staring intently out the large window that viewed the tank area, looking at the doorway. Guilmon was standing in the back of the room with Takato, simply looking around.

Takato swallowed. "Uh...you think it's a good idea to be preparing for attacks up here. I mean...this place is full of weird chemicals. A_ lot _of weird chemicals. Don't chemicals usually explode? Especially with...you know...fire?" he asked nervously.

"I think that's kinda what that Bannon guy was going for," Josh responded.

"What?" gasped Takato.

"We can get out if something happens. Don't sweat it. I just meant that, I think he wanted to trap Planet in here and soak him with the chemicals to make him weak...and if he couldn't be kept down...well. Just blow it up, y'know?" said Josh, his eyes still locked on the doorway.

"I...don't wanna think about it, really," Takato said with upset, his head cocked to the side, eyes closed.

"I don't wanna become barbecue, either," Guilmon added, placing his claws to the side of his head and frowning.

Josh stood up. Race had come running through the doorway and made his way into the middle row of tanks.

"All most go time, T," Josh said and pulled out his Digivice.

Takato swallowed again, harder this time.

10101

Inside the confines of the Tempest Speeder, Julia and Lorenzo were attempting to work their way free of their restraints.

"Wait, don't pull it like that! It hurts," Lorenzo complained.

"Oh, quit whining, Lorenzo. Just do it!" Julia barked at him and tried to pull his handcuff up enough so that he could situate himself in the chair correctly. "All right...now! Try it!" she then ordered him and pulled back a ways. "And DON'T hit me."

Lorenzo was curled up in the chair seat with his legs raised.

"Okay...but don't get pissed off if I do by accident." He kicked his leg out as hard as he could, hitting his foot against the rail. The metal clanged loudly and the rail shook. Lorenzo repeated the move a few more times, trying to break the rail off from its place in the chair mold.

"It's...not...workin'!" he complained again.

"Do it harder!" Julia shouted with growing irritation.

"I am doin' it harder! As hard as I can!" Lorenzo told her. "This thing's not goin'. It must be made outta somethin' pretty tough."

Julia gave a growl of frustration. "Ugh! This could be our only chance to try and escape before Bannon and his little freakish Cub Scout club get back. It _has_ to work! Keep trying, Lorenzo."

Lorenzo grit his teeth and slammed the railing again, trying even harder. The rail kept shaking violently but still didn't budge. Finally he stopped and gave a loud sigh. "Still no good. It just won't bust! Ugh. Now my feet hurt."

Julia let out a groan of anger and hung her head. "I don't know how much more of this day I can take."

The pair were silent for a moment, wallowing in their defeated displeasure. A sudden noise sent the two snapping back into attention. It was a long, blood curdling howl.

"Wha- What was that?" Lorenzo gasped, sitting up straight and looking around.

Julia's eyes widened. "I don't know! I'll assume it's one of those things!" she said with panic rising quickly in her voice.

The pair were silent again, tensed up and listening for signs of approach. Several eerie moments passed and then the howl once again cut through the air, louder this time. It seemed to rattle the very ship and made Lorenzo and Julia both shiver and cringe.

"Man...what the hell IS that?" Lorenzo whined nervously.

"Be quiet, Lorenzo!" Julia hissed in a whisper. "Maybe it won't know we're in here!"

Lorenzo did as he was told. He and Julia again waited in silence. Suddenly there was a thumping on the grass, like very large footsteps approaching. Then the howl came blasting again, right outside the ship. Lorenzo and Julia both jumped at it. It seemed to waver right through their bodies and shake them. This time the ship's walls actually did rattle loudly.

"Ugh...shit!" Lorenzo couldn't help but blurt out as the demonic sounding wolf howl vibrated through him, almost making him feel suddenly sick. "Aaaarg! What the hell is this?"

"Aaaah!" Julia also cried out, unable to help it as the sound waves penetrated her body and ears. She clasped her hands over them tightly. It felt as though they were about to start bleeding from the volume of the horrid noise.

The howl ceased and a growl came instead.

"AAAAH!" Lorenzo cried as he raised his head up to look around and saw the glowing orange eye looking in through the small side window. It was quite large and nearly filled the entire circle.

Julia saw it as well and cried out the same. She recoiled as best she could, still chained to the seat by the handcuffs.

"Uh...uh...M-maybe...maybe if we don't move, it can't see us?" Lorenzo stammered. "Like...you know...Jurassic Park or somethin'?"

Julia just moved her eyes to him briefly and then back to the door, her scared open-mouthed expression never changing. Just then, a loud bang on the side of the ship dashed all hopes of the creature not being able to see them and know they were inside. The ship was shaken with another loud smashing sound. Lorenzo and Julia both screamed, rocking with the ship as it bumped. The growl outside came again with yet another blow to the side of the ship. This time, there was a sound of wrenching metal. Another loud clank to the ship brought several razor-sharp looking blades slicing in through the wall. There were several crackles and pops, as the wires and circuits inside the ship's walls had been severed and torn. The blades retracted as Julia and Lorenzo screamed again.

"Oh shit! Oh shit! We're dead!" Lorenzo lamented in panic.

"Oh god, no! I didn't want to die like this!" Julia wailed as the blades sliced back through the wall once again and the ship rocked.

After the blade withdrew again, several long black claws pushed their way in through the cuts and began ripping a hole through the metal wall. The tear grew larger very quickly, and visible through the peeled back metal was the head of a gruesome, snarling beast. It looked like some freakish looking werewolf with spine-like hair and what appeared to be metal pieces covering parts of its face. The creature's mouth was quite large and filled with huge sharp fangs. It kept snarling as it made the hole in the ship's side wider, Lorenzo and Julia continuing to clutch each other and scream at their impending doom...


	8. Chapter 8: Captain Planet's Return

A Digital Nightmare

**Chapter 8**

Race ran into the middle row of tanks and then slowed, catching his breath. He turned and looked toward the doorway. He saw no sign of Devil Planet following him yet but was sure that would soon change.

"Okay. Okay!" Race panted. "If this don't work, I'm gonna really pissed off," he grumbled.

He was almost out of bullets, and ideas.

A roar came from not too far off. Race balled his fist.

"All right. Here we go," he said with determination.

Down farther away, Devil Planet was coming. He snarled and growled viciously, anger visible in his reptilian eyes. The pupils were now slitted. He was prepared to rip through the first human he saw in front of him. The trail of wet footprints he was following was leading him to the large storage tank area. Devil Planet could see the man in the torn red shirt even from his far away position, through the open doors. He roared again and began moving faster.

"Come on and get me, ya mangy blue brute!" Race called out.

Devil Planet charged through the doorway and hurtled himself towards the human, claws out.

"Earth!"

Suddenly the floor beneath his clawed foot caved in and a large hole formed into which he lost his balance and fell.

"Fire!"

A blast of flames came towards Planet's face moments after. His clawed hand went up to shield his eyes. Before he could gather himself back up, streams of chemical sprayed onto him once again. He howled and struggled in the hole, claws slashing out and legs kicking. Gi, Kwame, and Linka were soaking him down with their spray packs as fast as they could manage.

"It's running out!" Gi yelled as her stream grew thinner and thinner.

"Mine is also almost empty," Kwame said nervously, "But it is working. He is becoming weak! Keep spraying!"

The three teens kept soaking Devil Planet as he thrashed about in the pooling liquid. His groans filled the air.

"I think ve are killink him!" Linka exclaimed with grief. She stopped her stream and held up her gun.

"Don't stop!" Race yelled.

"It's okay, Linka! Just do it!" Wheeler joined in, keeping his ring pointed at Devil Planet.

"We're running out anyway," Gi said, lowering her gun as the stream drew to an unusable trickle no matter how much she pulled the trigger.

"Hopefully he has been weakened enough," said Kwame as he took off the straps and let the pack slide from his shoulders and fall to the ground. "We must at least render him unconscious or trap him!"

"Yeah, I wish we just knew how!" Wheeler said, coming over to the edge of the pit and looking down and the struggling Captain-Digimon hybrid creature.

Devil Planet reached up a clawed hand suddenly.

"W...Wheeeeel...Wheeeeleeer?" he groaned. His eyes had ever so briefly at that moment become wide with shock and confusion, and also faintly blue.

"CAP?" Wheeler shouted back, his own eyes widening as he moved forward.

"Wait! It could be a trap!" Race called out to him, hand outstretched.

Gi and Linka gasped, Linka putting a hand to her mouth and recoiling.

"It's Cap! He's coming through!" Wheeler yelled victoriously, dropping to his knees at the edge of the pit.

"Wait, Wheeler!" Kwame said with hesitation as he watched Wheeler stretch his hand down to Devil Planet.

Race wasn't sure what to do anymore. It seemed as though maybe the chemicals had weakened Devil Planet enough to revert him back to his own coherent mental state. He watched as Devil Planet's quivering clawed hand took hold of Wheelers and held it as Wheeler pulled him back out of the small pit. Devil Planet slumped to the ground, coughing, choking, and turning back and forth in extreme discomfort.

"We...we gotta clean him off! Gi!" Wheeler shouted.

"I don't know..." Gi hesitated.

"Gi!" Wheeler shouted at her again.

Gi raised her ring and set off the sprinklers above Planet. The raining water quickly began washing off the chemicals from his body. Devil Planet groaned, his eyes still closed. He put his hand to his head.

"Ugh."

Wheeler came and knelt down beside him. "Cap? Cap! Are you in there? How do you feel?"

"Uuuuuh. Wheeler? It _is_ you!" Devil Planet said weakly. "I...I...AAAAAAAAH!"

Devil Planet suddenly screamed and tensed. His eyes popped open. They were once again red with slit pupils. Wheeler tried to jump back but Devil Planet's clawed hand shot out and wrapped around his throat.

"Wheeler!" Gi screamed.

"No!" Kwame shouted.

"Shit!" Race added under his breath.

"Graaaaaaaah!" Devil Planet raised to his feet, lifting the struggling teen up and then throwing him away into the side of a tank.

Wheeler made a loud THUNK as he hit hard and then crumpled to the ground.

Devil Planet turned back to the scattering teens, roaring with wild rage. He set his eyes on Race then and charged at him. Race pointed the gun but before he could squeeze off a shot, a barrage of flames came raining down from above and knocked Devil Planet off his feet.

"PYRO SPHERE!"

"SOLAR FLARE!"

Guilmon and Solardramon were leaning over the railing of the nearby walkway above and lobbing attacks down at Devil Planet. Devil Planet roared and tried raising back up to his feet.

"Gargo Laser!"

Gargomon fired shots at Devil Planet as he fell to the ground below and landed. He took off running around to his side while continuing to pin Devil Planet down with his stream of fire. "Eat this!"

Devil Planet roared loudly again as the blasts hit him in the back.

"Shadow Windmill!" Kagedramon came flying down from the walkway as well, sending a spinning black windmill-style shuriken flying at Devil Planet. It was simply made out of digital energy, and shattered when it hit him.

"Aaaaaaaaaarrrg!" Devil Planet yowled and fell back to the ground, having taken a heavy beating. He lay panting for a long moment as the group surrounded him.

"You..." he began weakly, "You...won't...beat...me!"

His body suddenly began to glow. He attacked before the surrounding team could scatter.

"_Devil Errupter!_"

The blast of energy shot out from Devil Planet's body, sending everyone flying and screaming.

"No!" Josh yelled from above as he looked at the others being tossed like rag dolls.

Solardramon and Guilmon both had shocked looks on thier faces. Takato grabbed the railing and shook his head, seeing Kurohoshimon and Terriormon both lying on the floor, de-evolved. The sound of footsteps clanging on the walkway behind him made him turn. Elsea was running towards them.

"Elsea!" Takato shouted to her.

"I'm so sorry! I can't do anything! Galgosmon is too weak," she cried.

"Dammit. Solardramon can't Digivolve up here! I needa get down!" Josh said with frustration. "I wasn't planning on this happening!"

Takato looked back down. No one was moving, except Devil Planet. He was trying to get back to his feet again. "I don't have any flight cards! Oh man."

"I can still try to hit him, Takato!" Guilmon suggested.

"Me too!" Solardramon agreed.

Takato and Josh were desperate. They nodded.

"Be careful not to hit any of the tanks!" Takato warned.

"PYRO SPHERE!"

"SOLAR FLARE!"

The two fire-breathing Digimon attacked again. To their dismay, Devil Planet turned and saw the incoming fireballs. He rolled away as they hit the ground below and scorched it. Devil Planet then got to his feet with a stagger, looking up at from where the attacks had come from. Josh and Takato both stepped back. Solardramon grimaced and Guilmon blinked, his bat wing-like ears lowering.

"Uh oh," said Guilmon nervously.

Devil Planet quickly made his hand signs while chanting softly. The ball of energy once again appeared in between his palms.

"Devil's Swirling Vortex!" he said in a low tone and threw the energy ball at them.

"Run!" Takato yelled.

The blast hit and tore apart the walkway before the two boys and Digimon could get far enough away. The metal floor began to melt away and break, causing the walkway to collapse and fall out from beneath their feet. Guilmon sunk his claws into the edge of the partially collapsed walkway, holding on for dear life as he gripped Takato in his tail. Solardramon had hold of the railing along with Josh, both clinging as the metal bent further.

"SHIT!" Josh yelled and desperately tried to hold on.

Solardramon gritted his teeth. "It's no good. I'm too heavy! It's bending because of me!"

"It's okay, Solardramon. Just...hang on," Josh reassured him, carefully letting one hand loose of the rail so he could dig into his pocket for his Digivice. "Hang on...I..." Josh fumbled as he took the Digivice out. It slipped from his fingers and fell. Both Solardramon and Josh gasped. Josh slammed his feet together just in time...and caught the Digivice between his shoes. The tamer and Digimon both sighed with relief, despite their given situation. Josh pressed his button by squeezing his feet together. Solardramon disappeared with a flash of light. The bending of the metal slowed and then stopped before it was in danger of snapping.

However, Guilmon's claws were starting to slip.

"Ugh. Guilmon!" Takato yelled and tried to grab the railing nearby.

"Takato...I'm slipping!" Guilmon cried as he slid further down, his claws squealing and making deep cuts in the metal.

"Hold on, Guilmon!" Takato pleaded.

"Takato!" Josh shouted to him.

Takato looked over, eyes wide.

"Catch my Digivice!"

"WHAT?" Takato yelled, his eyes going even wider.

"Here!" Josh swung his feet out and the Digivice went flying out from between his shoes.

"AAAAH!" Takato screamed. His hands shot out without hesitation and he grabbed Josh's Digivice in them tightly. "What are you doing?" he yelled.

"Pocket it and grab my foot!" Josh yelled.

Takato was about to say "What" again, but Josh cut him off before he even got out the 'W.'

"JUST DO IT!"

Takato jammed the device into his pocket securely and reached out and grabbed Josh's outstretched foot tightly.

"Now...grab Guilmon! And Guilmon, keep holding onto Takato!" Josh added.

"Oh man!" Takato yelled. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

"Takatoooooo!" Guilmon now pleaded as he slipped even further down. "I can't hold on to this thing anymore!"

Takato took his other hand and grabbed onto Guilmon's tail tip as tightly as he could. He felt Guilmon's tail tightening firmly around his body, until it almost hurt.

"Okay. Now if this doesn't go right...we're dead," Josh warned. "Guilmon, Takato's got your tail and you got him. When you slid off, you're gonna swing out. You gotta grab the railing! You hear me? You gotta grab it as tight as you can when you swing up!"

"WHAT?" Guilmon was the one to gasp now.

Takato's face was pale. "Please, Guilmon!"

Guilmon's claws were almost to the edge of the the metal slab. One more slide, and he was going to fall off. He swallowed hard, his pupils growing tiny with worry. Finally, he slipped.

"AAAAAAAH!" Guilmon yelled and started to fall.

Takato screamed but held onto Guilmon's tail as hard as he could possibly manage as he gripped Josh's leg as tightly as he could with the other hand. Guilmon's weight made it feel like his arm was going to be torn from its socket and his body ripped in half, but he kept holding and Guilmon swung out.

"SHIIIIIT!" Josh groaned, the added weight doing a number on his leg.

Guilmon finally swung up and near Josh on the opposite side of the destroyed walkway, screaming all the way.

**CLANG**

Guilmon's arms were jammed around the railing as tightly as they could go. He blinked open his eyes, body shaking.

"I...I did it!" Guilmon exclaimed weakly. He looked behind him and saw Takato dangling sideways wrapped in his tail, still with one hand on Josh's ankle. He was even paler than before.

"G-G-Guilmoooon!" Takato whimpered softly.

"Hang on, Takato!" Guilmon gasped and quickly tried to pull his body further up while being careful to hold onto the rail. He badly wished he had fingers for a moment, as one wrong move and he'd slip out anyway, dooming them all.

Guilmon kept pulling himself up sideways along the rail until he was up onto the stable end of the metal walkway. He felt a tug behind him and looked back. Takato was being pulled as far as he could stretch, now clinging to Josh's ankle with both hands. Josh was almost being pulled sideways now.

"Okay, okay!" Josh grunted. "Now...we...ah! Gotta do something else, here."

"You've gotta let go now, Josh!" Takato said in a shaky voice. He struggled not to look down. "Guilmon...hold on to me! And hold onto the rail!"

"I am, Takato," Guilmon reassured him, his arms jammed between the rails and crossed over each other tightly. His tail was also as tight as he could wrap it securely around Takato without injuring him.

"Okay," Takato responded, his voice still shaking as well as his body. "You gotta let go, Josh. I've got you!"

Josh gritted his teeth. He was going to have to let go, as his grip was beginning to slip as his arms grew weak. "Okay. Here I...go. I swear...if you drop me, Takato...I'll come back and haunt your ass."

"Oh god," Takato groaned, briefly closing his eyes. Now was so not the time for jokes.

"Here I GO!" Josh let his hands go and fell.

He swung down and Takato held him firmly as he dangled, upside down. Takato hissed in pain, his arm almost to the breaking point. "Guilmon, pull us up! Hurry!" he grunted.

Guilmon pulled himself up along the rail, Takato in his tail, and Josh's leg in Takato's hands. Slowly, they all made it back up over the walkway. Guilmon kept going as far as he could to make sure they were all on safe ground. Josh and Takato were simply being dragged along behind him for a few feet.

"Guilmon...stop! We...made it!" Takato groaned.

Josh was breathing so hard, he thought his lungs were going to explode. "That...was too...close."

It had been an extremely long and painful feeling couple of minutes.

Guilmon turned back, trying to catch his own breath. He looked down and saw Devil Planet standing there. Takato and Josh joined him after getting back to their feet and trying to calm their pounding hearts.

"Why...why didn't he attack again?" Takato wondered.

"Who gives a damn? We just got saved because of it," Josh responded, wiping sweat and hair from his face. "We gotta go help."

Takato remembered Josh's Digivice was in his pocket. "Oh yeah!" he pulled it out and handed it back to him. "You should really get a chain for this thing!"

Josh actually nodded in agreement.

10101

Back on the ground floor...

Devil Planet was breathing heavily. His body was wracked with pain and his energy starting to deplete. He would have attempted to finish off the other humans and their pets while they were dangling from the broken walkway, but he was simply too weak to manifest any more attacks at the moment. He looked around and saw the downed humans and other Digimon creatures still lying unconscious. At least they would all be easy kills. He stepped towards the blond Planet Soldier girl and raised his claws.

"Stop!" Lisa's voice rang out.

She struggled to her feet with Keirauramon beside her. Luckily they had been far enough of way from the group to not be heavily injured by the attack blast. It had felt like several prize fighters pummeling their bodies all at once, however.

"Leave my friends alone!" she shouted. "I don't care if you're Captain Planet or not anymore. You touch my friends again and I'll beat the shit out of you!"

"I'll beat the shit out of you even more!" Keirauramon yelled angrily, balling her little fist.

"And we'll help!"

Lisa turned to see Josh and Takato running up to join the fight. Growlmon and Metal Solardramon stomped up as well.

"You're goin' down, Planetmon!" Takato said angrily.

"Fools. You're dead already anyway," Devil Planet said with an eerily calm demeanor and a smile on his lips. He wobbled slightly as he stood, putting a hand to hold his side. "Don't you know what I just did?" he said and then laughed wickedly. "My attack not only knocked your friends here silly, but also destabilized every single chemical vat it passed through!"

The teens eyes all widened.

Devil Planet continued. "Right now...inside those vats, the chemicals are bubbling up and becoming quite volatile. It's only a matter of time before they finally blow!" He laughed like a maniac. "We'll see how you like it, now."

"No!" Lisa exclaimed in anguish as Devil Planet laughed wildly again.

"Aww, don't be upset little human. I'll keep you busy until it's time to meet your end," Devil Planet said, claws raised. "I'm sure it'll be a few minutes at least before it goes kaboom. Well, providing that your large friends there don't set it off sooner, I suppose."

Metal Solardramon and Growlmon both growled. He was right. They had to be careful.

"We'll just have to make this a quick hand-to-hand fight, then!" Takato said sternly.

"Claw-to-claw," Growlmon corrected, raising his into the air.

"Josh. We'll take care of this! You try and get the others up and outta here," Takato said to him.

Josh turned and looked at Takato. "You sure about that? We'd probably have a better chance all together."

"I'll be fine. You and Lisa, get moving! Make sure the others are safe," responded Takato with determination. "Growlmon!" he thrust out a finger.

Growlmon went charging by and swiped at Devil Planet with his large clawed hand. Devil Planet managed to dodge the firsts swipe but was knocked off his feet by the return swipe. He went sliding down the floor a ways and Growlmon kept charging.

"Metal Solardramon, make us an exit!" Josh shouted and pointed to the back wall. "Don't use any fire!"

"Right!" Metal Solardramon acknowledged and went charging toward the wall. He smashed a hole right through it when he got there.

"Come on, guys. Get up!" Josh shouted as he shook Reina, trying to rouse her.

Lisa and Keirauramon were busy trying to wake Gi and Linka up. Keirauramon rushed over to Wheeler and checked to see if he was all right. She tried to jostle him. Wheeler moaned and kicked his leg out a little.

"Hey! You've got to get up! Please! The place is going to explode!" Keirauramon chirped at him while she jumped up and down.

"Ugh. Huh? Wha?" Wheeler managed to finally speak. He opened his eyes halfway and saw the little flowery Digimon staring back at him with concern.

Linka, Gi, and Kwame were getting to their feet, holding heads, arms, and sides in pain.

"Ooh. Vhat has happened? My head..." Linka rubbed her forehead trying to shake off the daze.

"We gotta get outta here! The place is gonna blow up!" Josh yelled, Reina sitting up in front of him as he knelt beside her.

"Ug...what?" Reina yelled back in confusion. She felt quite disoriented.

Nearby, Kurohoshimon lifted himself up and shook his head briefly.

"Explode?" Gi spoke, clutching her own head in pain. "What happened to-" She stopped as she saw Takato and his Digimon partner still fighting Devil Planet. "Oh no!"

"RRRRRRRRAH!" Growlmon roared and swung his claws down into the ground where Devil Planet had been.

Devil Planet, though extremely weak now, was still able to hold his own against the larger Champion Digimon. He gave a growl and did a jump, turning in mid-air and striking Growlmon with his tail. Growlmon's head turned with the blow but he shrugged it off and took another swipe at Devil Planet and was able to once again send him tumbling back.

"Keep it up, Growlmon!" cheered Takato. He still wondered nervously how much time they still had left and if it would be enough to get out alive.

The Planet Soldiers group was headed towards the exit hole, and Reina, Kurohoshimon, Elsea, and Race along with them. Henry had stopped to try and help Takato and Josh out. He slid his card through the reader slot in his Digivice and soon Gargomon stood at the ready once again.

"Don't fire your weapons, Gargomon!" Henry shouted as Gargomon ran to battle.

"I was almost outta ammo anyway!" Gargomon said as he bounced up and past Growlmon. "BUNNY PUMMEL!"

Gargomon swung his gun arm and smashed it into Devil Planet's head as he came forward.

"Arg!" Devil Planet growled and fell to the ground, clutching his head. The hit had broken off the horns on his mask and cracked it down the side.

Ha! How's that!" Gargomon said triumphantly as he stood over Devil Planet.

"Nice one!" Growlmon congratulated him. "Thanks!"

Devil Planet snarled. "No need to celebrate just yet." He sent his tail lashing out and tripped Gargomon.

"Waaaah!" Gargomon cried and fell onto his back with a loud thud.

Devil Planet quickly brought his tail down onto Gargomon's face as hard as he could, leaving a large red mark afterward.

"UGH!" Gargomon groaned in pain.

"No you don't!" Growlmon said angrily and brought his claws down onto Devil Planet. "Take this!"

"Come on, you guys!" Josh called out to them.

Takato took notice of the tanks around them beginning to rattle and vibrate.

"Growlmon, back off! Let's go! Now!" he yelled.

"Gargomon, come on!" Henry called to his own Digimon as he backed away.

Growlmon and Gargomon turned heels and joined their tamers, leaving Devil Planet on the ground behind them. Devil Planet roared in fury. He mustered all his remaining strength to get back up and chase after them.

Back outside, the group was getting as far away as they could from the building, not sure how large the blast radius would be once the tanks exploded. The first explosions would set of a chain reaction, exploding all the other tanks as well. It could very well be disastrous...and even more so with all the chemicals being released into the air.

"Oh my god! What're we gonna do? That blast could be large enough to wipe out the whole block and us along with it!" Reina shouted in a panic, waving her arms.

"Is there anything we _can_ do?" Lisa cried, hands on her head.

"Elsea!" Galgosmon's voice came through her X-Digivice. Elsea picked it up and looked down at the screen where Galgosmon was displayed. "I might be able to contain the blast. But...I have to Digivolve further."

"But you're still not completely recovered! And we've never gone to Infinity Level before!" Elsea exclaimed.

"Infinity?" gasped Takato.

Henry looked just as shocked from his position beside him. Gargomon looked rather confused.

Reina and the other tamers of Elsea's group looked at her with apprehensively.

"Whoa...none of us have ever gone Infinity for very long without something bad happening, Elsea," Josh warned her. "You gotta be really careful."

"I know," Elsea told him. "But if Galgosmon thinks we can help, we have to at least try."

She raised up her X-Digivice and Galgosmon appeared before her in the flash of light. "Galgosmon...Digivolve! Infinity Evolution!" The Digivice began glowing brightly.

Galgosmon crossed her arms and closed her eyes. Two large circles of white light appeared around her and began to rotate like a gyro sphere. She raised into the air and was enveloped in the intense light. Slowly, her body began dissolving into a pure white silhouette. It then grew larger and changed in form from that of a long legged, animal-like body into a more humanoid shape. The tail which had been thicker and furry quickly morphed into a long, thin devil-like tail and became black. The legs grew color over them and became long black boots with gold straps along them that trailed up until the thigh, which became flesh colored. A long and flowing high-cut red dress formed over the body of the unknown Digimon. Black feathery tufts grew out from either side along the arms and trimming the chest area of the dress. The figure raised out its arms which elongated rapidly and became covered in black gloves with several gold straps along them. The wrists each formed large gold cuffs and the ends of the fingers were also tipped with large gold claws except the index fingers, which were tipped with red. The figure twirled around, exposing the back where two sets of large bat-like wings formed...one red, one black. The Digimon turned again and threw its long purple hair back. A black bat-winged winged mask formed over the last part of the white silhouette, as the Digimon's face formed. Her lips were red and small fangs poke out from beneath.

The spinning lights finally stopped and the globe of light surrounding the Digimon shattered outward.

"Succubimon!" the new Digimon spoke her name, spreading her wings out.

Elsea looked up in awe of her Digimon's new form. "Succubimon!"

"I will take care of this little mishap," Succubimon said in a soft yet confident, perhaps almost a little arrogant, sounding voice and rose up, flying towards the building. She raised her long arms up and held out her large clawed hands. A black, shadowy light shot out from them and began forming a circular barrier over the building.

"Hades Portal!" her voice rippled through the air.

The shadow-bubble began to grow darker and it appeared as though clouds were swirling around inside it ever so briefly. Then to everyone's amazement, the bubble shrank into nothingness. The building was entirely gone, leaving only a crater in the ground where it had once been.

"Holy..." Henry said softly.

"Whoa!" Reina said as she stared. "We've never done something like that on Infinity, that's for sure."

Kurohoshimon nodded in agreement.

Succubimon smiled and looked rather pleased. "No problem for someone like me, of course," she said and waved her hand casually. Her smile turned into a wince suddenly. "Ugh."

Succubimon grunted and began lowering to the ground. Elsea had fallen to her knees, clutching her chest and grimacing. Her tamer friends rushed to her.

"Elsea!" Reina shouted and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You okay?" Josh asked, kneeling in front of her.

"I'm fine," Elsea reassured her friends as she got to her feet. "It just...takes a lot out of you! I didn't know how it was going to feel."

Succubimon had touched down nearby and vanished in a burst of light, leaving a small orange baby level Digimon with a puffy fox tail and two purple bat-wing ears in her place. The little Digimon blinked a few times and looked at Elsea who came over and took it into her arms.

"You can call me Parukiimon now," the baby Digimon said in a tired voice. It closed its eyes and quickly nodded off in her arms.

Race stared in awe of what had just transpired. Whatever these 'Digimon' creatures were, they were sure something to talk about. "Fur on a catfish!" he muttered to himself.

"Well...thank goodness that ended well!" Lisa cheered, jumping into the air a little. Keirauramon bounced into the air as well.

"YAY, YAY! You both saved the day!" she exclaimed and danced around.

"Incredible! I have never seen such a thing before in my entire life!" Kwame said with wonder.

Elsea smiled modestly.

"Uh...I don't wanna bum anyone out, really, but..." Henry began, "Do you know if Devil Planet was in there?"

Elsea turned to him with a frown. "I almost forgot! No, I don't know. I suppose he might have been able to get out of the building before hand."

Wheeler clenched his fist. "Cap...he was almost comin' back, too. I guess...I guess I shoulda just waited." He looked away from the group, feeling that it was his fault the whole plan ended up like this.

"It's okay, Wheeler. We tried," Gi tried to console him.

Everyone was awkwardly silent for a long moment. Finally Takato spoke up.

"Uhhh...so now what do we do?"

Race wiped some dirt off his face and spoke. "Well...we should probably head back to the ship and confirm to the others that the main plan to trap Surd worked. He ain't goin' nowhere now unless somebody carries him out, or he walks out by himself. And hopefully, that won't happen."

"Vhat about Captain Planet?" Linka asked softly. "Do you really think he vas in that dome when it was sucked avay?"

"No!" Henry shouted and pointed up.

Everyone turned. Devil Planet was standing atop one of the large cylindrical containers sitting on the grassy area in the back of where the chemical plant had been. He dropped down as the group scattered again, taking up defensive positions.

"Man, nothing gets rid of this guy!" Gargomon griped and raised his gun arms.

"Wait, Garglemon!" Race stopped him and held out a hand.

"It's GARGOmon..." the overgrown Digimon-bunny said with minor annoyance.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Uh...just shoot a hole in the container there! A big one! Quick!" continued Race.

Henry saw what Race was getting at. "Do it, Gargomon!"

Gargomon turned back and moved his gun arm in a circle, firing several shots into the metal container. The round chunk of metal tore free and a blast of yellow-green liquid gushed out and onto Devil Planet as he stood beneath.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Devil Planet screamed one last time and dropped to his knees, then to his stomach flat on the ground. The chemical in the spare containment cylinder continued pouring out over him until it was empty. He didn't move at all.

"I think we got him this time, Takato," Growlmon said as he stared intently.

"Oh my god...is he finally dead now?" Lisa asked timidly.

The Planet Soldiers looked a bit more distraught. Linka's face was in her hands.

"I...I'll..." Gi stuttered and inched forward. Wheeler put a hand out and stopped her.

"I'll check."

"Be careful, Wheeler," Kwame said. "This time...if he gets back up and is still deranged...then we will have to make sure he doesn't get up ever again. We have no choice left."

"I know," Wheeler said coldly and stepped towards the body of the fallen Devil Planet.

Planet still wasn't moving an inch. Maybe he really _was_ dead. Wheeler still wanted to check and make sure.

"Cap?" he said as he reached the body. "Can you hear me?" He leaned down a little bit, being careful not to step in too far, as the ground was soggy with the chemical mix. He put his hand to his mouth. The vapors were intense, even in the open air.

Devil Planet stirred. Wheeler drew back again, slightly. "Cap?" he asked once again, holding out his ring. The color of it had nearly faded completely.

"Unnn," Devil Planet groaned softly. His clawed hands clutched the ground. "Nnnnmm."

Wheeler noticed the color of the orb in his ring suddenly changing back to being fuller and brighter.

"Wh...ler," Devil Planet mumbled.

"Cap?" Wheeler shouted.

"Be careful, Wheeler!" Gi shouted. She noticed the color of her ring becoming brighter and more like it used to be as well.

"Wheeler?" Devil Planet groaned and raised his head slightly. "Uuugh," he grunted in pain.

Wheeler's ring colors spiked. "Cap! He's comin' back!"

"Is it for real?" Lisa asked with surprise.

"For real, this time! We gotta get him outta the puddle!" Wheeler said quickly.

"But the chemicals on him...we can't touch him," came Gi's frustrated response.

"Here, let me do it!" Keirauramon piped up.

She bounced over as close as she could get without touching the chemical-soaked grass and extended her arms out. "Vine Binds!" Her fingers changed into long vines and began snaking towards Devil Planet. They wrapped around his body securely and then Keirauramon began pulling him out of the pooled chemical. She dragged him to a safer spot in the grass farther away.

"Okay...be careful of him, still!" Gi said and walked over slowly.

"Nnn...G...Gi?" Planet said weakly as Gi gasped.

"Told ya!" Wheeler exclaimed victoriously. "Hang in there, Cap."

"Ve must clean him off!" Linka came over and looked around. "Oh, but there is no source of vater nearby!"

"Linka's right...I can't use my ring without one. If only I knew where there was a water main nearby..." said Gi.

Suddenly Parukiimon jumped out of Elsea's arms, having been awake enough to hear the conversation. It walked over on its stubby little legs and looked up at the group surrounding Devil Planet.

"Maybe I can help," it said in a child-like voice. "Sparkling Spray!"

The young Digimon opened its mouth wider and a large water bubble shot out and burst in mid-air over Devil Planet. Devil Planet groaned and stirred once again.

"Ugh. Yes. Need...clean...water," Planet mumbled weakly and raised his hand up a little.

"Oh, thank you! Keep doing that, Parukiimon!" Gi cheered.

"Sparkling Spray!"

Parukiimon repeated several more times, producing several more bursts of fresh water-filled bubbles. The water had washed off the residue from Devil Planet's body after a few moments. He began breathing more easily and rolled onto his back. Finally he opened his eyes. They were once again blue.

"Unn...Planet Soldiers?" the former Devil Planet asked with confusion as he stared up at them. He held his hand in front of his face, taking note of the white claws tipping the ends of each of his fingers. "What...what's going on?"

"Captain Planet!" his group of Planet Soldiers cheered excitedly.

"I knew somehow we'd get ya back!" Wheeler said triumphantly.

"Oh, Captain Planet! Ve vere so vorried!" Linka cried and hugged him as he sat up.

"Well, I'm sorry I worried you guys so much! I just wish I could remember what the heck happened before I blacked out," Planet said and rubbed his aching head. He was shocked to find his face was covered by some sort of mask. He gasped as he noticed the rest of his striped body and dinosaur-like legs and tail. "Or maybe I don't want to know. What happened to me?" He raised his hands in front of him and stared.

"That's a long story," said Wheeler.

"I'd love to hear it," Planet said with an extremely confused look and frown as he lowered his hands to his lap.

"Captain Planet," Kwame began, " do you remember anything about what happened to you? Even anything back from the attack at the museum?"

Planet pondered for a moment. "Now that you mention it, I do remember the museum. I remember something was going on in the city, and then these huge creatures attacked us all. One of them bit my arm...and then I felt terribly ill. Then I just blacked out! All I remember is seeing Wheeler for a moment...and then, here I am again."

"So then Nosfutoramon was right when she said that," Elsea said, staring down at Parukiimon as it cocked its head to the side curiously.

'Wheeler! What happened to your arm?" Planet asked, seeing Wheeler's prosthetic.

"Ah...another long story, Cap. One I kinda don't be reminded of," Wheeler responded, looking tired. "It's been a really long day."

"And It's not even six o' clock, yet," Lisa noted, looking at her watch. "Oh god. I just wanna wake up in my bed and this'll have been like, a really, really bad dream."

Growlmon de-evolved just then, reappearing as Guilmon, sitting in the grass and looking somewhat dazed.

"Ugh. I'm hungry, Takato," he groaned.

Takato lowered his head and sighed.

"Captain...can you get up?" asked Elsea.

Planet shakily rose to his feet and stood. "Yes. I...don't really know how these legs are going to work, though."

It seemed as though Captain Planet, once reverted back to his normal state of mind, had lost the precise control over his Digimon body he had as Devil Planet.

"This is very strange," Planet said, trying to keep balance on his large bent legs, and keep his tail in line as well. "Boy, do I need a hair cut!" he said jokingly, pulling some of the shaggy strands of his long mane of hair in his clawed hands.

"It's good to have you back, Cap!" said Wheeler happily.

"Well, it's pretty good to be back!" said the now restored, though still Digimonized Captain Planet happily.

Race trudged over just then.

"I don't really wanna break up the reunion and all, but we should probably get goin' before anybody else lurking around here took notice of all the explosions and whatnot and comes nosin' around to catch us."

The group all agreed quickly and took off together for where they had left their respective ships. The two groups branched off from each other.

"Keep watch for anything, guys!" Gi told them and headed off with her group. "Be careful."

Race and the Digimon tamer teens continued running for where they'd left the Speeder sitting.

"Okay you guys, when we get to-" Race has started to say but stopped when he finally saw the Speeder in the distance. He stopped the rest of the group from running any closer. "Hooold on, we got trouble."

"Oh no!" Elsea whispered, her eyes widening.

The Speeder had a very large hole torn through the side of it. The metal seemed to have been ripped apart rather viciously. Circuitry sticking out from the torn walls was sparking every now and then.

"You kids stay here and watch out. Keep your heads up for anything that might move...anywhere!" Race told them and began moving slowly to the Speeder, gun drawn. He only had two bullets left, but it was better than none.

Race drew closer to the wrecked ship while scanning around for enemies. He didn't see trails of any and though he kept expecting something to pop out at him, nothing did. He climbed up into the hole and checked inside. Race quickly took notice of the seats where he'd left Surd's lackeys chained to. They were torn from the floor and thrown elsewhere in the back of the ship. A broken side of handcuffs was still attached to one of them. Oddly enough, Race didn't see any trail of bloodshed or other visible sign of what might have become of Julia and Lorenzo. He went to the pilot area. The console was smashed in badly. The chair was also missing, torn from the floor as well.

"Son of a..." Race muttered and trailed off. He began searching for signs of the communicator that he'd left there, hoping it was still unharmed somewhere. After a moment of pushing stuff around he finally located it beneath a chunk of metal. It wasn't smashed apart. "Yes!" he exclaimed and pressed a few buttons.

"Quest team, come in. This is Race. Please acknowledge!"

After a long painful moment of silence, Hadji's voice came through the other end.

"Race! We hear you loud and clear!"

Back on Hope Island, Hadji was busy punching buttons into the laptop he was seated in front of.

"Oh, it is good to hear from you, Race. We'd been fearing something was wrong when the third power plant did not go down at the same time as the others," he said with concern.

"Well, we did get into quite a few spots a trouble...but it worked out," Race's voice responded back. "Uh, we might have more problems, though. Somethin' took a bite outta this ship. It mighta got Surd's goons, too, but I'm not sure. I left 'em here after disablin' plant one and goin' back to check on the other kids. Those trackers I slipped on 'em...you still gettin' any readouts?"

Hadji typed in some commands and pulled up a screen that displayed two small circles of blue lights over the display image grid of the city area. "I am. Signs indicate that they appear to be alive and well."

Back in the city, Race narrowed his eyes and scowled.

"Yep. That's what I was afraid of. Damn," he said and slammed his fist into the undamaged side of the ship he was standing by. "Well, that's more bad news to look forward t'havin' to deal with down the road. Hadji! Can you patch in to the other ship?" Race went to the edge of the hole in the ship and jumped back down. He began walking back to the waiting group.

"I am on it," said Hadji's voice.

A moment later Gi's voice came through the communicator. "Mr. Bannon?"

"Hey there...Gi, was it? We kinda need a ride. Our ship got busted up pretty bad."

Race rejoined the group of teens and Digimon. A few minutes later, the Grand Geo Cruiser appeared overhead and moved in to pick them up.


	9. Chapter 9: Battle Plans

A Digital Nightmare

**Chapter 9**

Back in the safety of Hope Island, the group of exhausted individuals was taking a short but much needed rest as they attempted to reform new plans. Takato and Henry were feeding their Digimon some of the fresh fruits and vegetables Kwame had brought out to them. The X-tamers had recalled their Digimon into their Digivices and had been trying to let them recharge their strength again while they themselves sat in the wooden chairs sitting around near one of the island's resting huts. Wheeler was also sitting down for a break and adjusting some of the wires inside his arm while flexing the fingers of it. Hadji and Gi were sitting together at the table with the computers set up on it while Jonny and Race stood and looked over their shoulders, everyone pointing around at several things on screen and conversing. Linka was with Captain Planet near some of the larger crystal structures that lead up to the main area where Gaia's vision area and the Crystal Computer was. Ma Ti was beside her.

"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this body, finally," Planet said as he walked slowly back and forth more naturally than he had been able to before. His tail curled out and lashed gently behind him as he moved. "The tail still feels pretty weird, though," he said with a frown.

"Do not vorry, Captain Planet. I am sure ve vill find a way to return you to your regular body soon," said Linka in consolation.

"I must admit...It is very strange seeing you like this, Captain Planet," Ma Ti said softly. He couldn't seem to forget that when Planet was possessed with evil, he had attacked them so very viciously. The memories still scared him. No one had yet made mention of how Planet had behaved under the evil influence. It seemed better as not spoken of, especially to Planet himself. They were just all feeling lucky he hadn't actually managed to kill anyone, though he had tried to.

"I'm sorry, Ma Ti. I promise I'll find a way to help set things straight, now that I'm almost back to myself again," Planet replied to him sadly, and placed a clawed hand on the young Soldier's shoulder. "At least I still can use my powers," he said, raising his other clawed hand and watching it glow and sparkle as he summoned some of his elemental energy.

"Everyone!" Gaia's voice sounded. She came floating down to where Gi, Jonny, and Hadji were.

The group members got up and assembled around her and the others.

"It seems that Blight and Skumm are still on the move. They've been keeping to a certain area for a while now, though," she said and looked over to the computer screens. "Gi, Hadji, what do you have for us?"

"It does seem that there's a pattern with Skumm and Blight. We figure now that Surd and Sindramon know we've broken off their ties to the rest of the city, they're instructing the henchmen to stay close to give them protection," said Gi.

"Indeed, this seems to be the case," Hadji began, "The other larger minions seem to be pulling back and remaining on a defensive perimeter around the main power plant. We caught the energy signatures of the large bird creature that was roaming the city earlier, as well as the energy signatures of two more of the Digimon creatures that had been the first to attack us at the Quest compound."

"Also, we located Plunder's Digimon's energy signal again. He's been hanging around the western block near the main power plant building," Gi told them.

"So he did manage to get away from the wreck back at plant four," Reina said with a scowl and folded her arms. "Figures! Sometimes I hate making assumptions that turn out to be true."

Wheeler raised up his metal arm. "Well, hey. At least we got Cap back on our side now, right? That should at least help even the odds a little more if he's still as powerful as he was back there!"

"I dunno...I don't think it's a good idea to bring him back into the fight. How do we know something won't effect his state of mind like that again?" Henry said with a worried look.

"He's making a good point..." Elsea added in, "The Nightmare Digimon are still around out there and who knows what another infectious bite from them might do to Planet. Or worse...the Chaos Digimon could perhaps do something worse to him."

"Er...well, if I might have a say in this?"

The reptilian bodied Captain Planet walked over closer to the group. He raised a claw up gingerly and said, "I'm now well aware of the circumstances surrounding the situation here, having been turned into...well...whatever it is I am. Still, this is going to be my fight, too. After all...I am the Guardian of the earth. It's my duty to protect it. And right now from the looks of it, it could really use some serious protecting."

"Can't really argue that, I suppose," said Henry. "We sure could use all the help we could manage to get...and what better help that an all-powerful earth spirit whose been turned into a Digimon!"

"Elemental Spirit," Planet said with a smile, raising his finger again.

"_Digimon_ Elemental Spirit!" Henry leaned forward and replied back to Planet, a large smile on his face.

Planet looked slightly confused. "Digi...mon?"

"That's what you've been turned into, far as we can tell," Takato spoke up. "Digimon are powerful creatures from a place called the Digital World! It's kinda like an entire world made out of bunch of multiple dimensions made out of computer data," he tried to explain but Planet seemed to be finding it only more confusing as did everyone else who wasn't a tamer. "Er...well, something kinda like that." He grinned sheepishly.

"Uhhh...I'm not really familiar with computers much," Planet said with a smile and shrugged. "But I definitely want to partake in the fight and help everyone out any way I can."

"Captain Planet...you said you could still use your powers, correct?" Ma Ti asked.

Planet nodded. "Sure can. I think I can even almost fly again." He mustered up his energy and slowly, his body rose several feet into the air. "I'm a little wobbly, but I think I can manage to fly some distance at least." He rose into the air a little higher and hovered for a moment, then flew in a small circle. He came back and landed with a thump of his large feet.

"Great! With Planet sane now and able to fight with us, and all our Digimon, we should be able to get somewhere this time around, right?" inquired Lisa.

"Don't forget us," Wheeler chimed in, giving a thumbs up and a wink.

"Yeah, I think we could actually try and make a stand!" Reina said excitedly with a clenched fist.

"Surd's got his flunkies all lined up around him like a shield, right? We'd have to go through them first to get to him," Jonny spoke up.

"It seems so," responded Hadji as he punched in more keys and new grids formed over the display of Surd's position. Several light dots were flashing on the screen, forming a circle around the building Surd was held up in.

"Hmm. Skumm and Blight...This one's Plunder..." Gi noted to the group while pointing her finger around the screen. "This one was Tengudramon, and these two are the dragon ones that attacked the Quests. There's been one more signature going off and on that we can't get a distinct readout on. And also two more that popped up a short while ago."

"Strangely enough I wish to add, these two appeared a rather short while after Julia and Lorenzo disappeared," Hadji said, looking towards Race.

Race put a hand to his chin. "Well now, that sure ain't good news to hear."

"Well, we still kinda outnumber them, at least," Takato pointed out. "Unless they bring out even more guys."

"Takato! What did I tell you about that!" Henry reminded him.

Takato lowered his head and rubbed it. "Ugh. Sorry. Man, I really wish Reika and Renamon weren't on that trip in Hokaido," he muttered.

Elsea went over and stood with Hadji and Gi at the computer. "We really need to start on a course of action soon, before they destroy the entire city. It seems they're just out causing trouble for the moment...maybe to lure us all out?"

"It kinda looks like they want us to know they're protecting Surd and Sindramon. Maybe lead us all into an ambush, or somethin' once we try and head for him? Jonny wondered suspiciously.

"Hmmm. Dunno. But it's possible," Elsea said, cupping her chin. "They don't actually know we've revived Captain Planet, do they?"

The group pondered simultaneously for a few minutes.

"I don't think so," said Henry finally. "But they might get suspicious if he doesn't check in or something, I guess."

"Hey! That sounds like a really good trap idea!" Josh spoke up from the back. "Planet could make like he's still under the crazy Nightmare evil and try to get in the building to Sindramon. Then we could bust out and take the rest of 'em all down outside and finish 'em both up inside with Planet's help!"

Reina looked a bit uninspired. "Ah, I dunno. Those types of plans always sound good but then crap usually goes wrong. And we reaaally don't need anymore things going wrong today."

"Hmm. But it's still worth a try," Planet himself agreed.

"Yeah, Reina. You're not gonna argue with the guardian of earth, are ya?" Josh jabbed.

Reina folded her arms, giving him a glare. She sighed. "Whatever! Not in the mood."

"Now, now guys...no need for bad vibes here," Planet said, keeping his fangy smile.

Lisa looked a bit frightened but still was smiling awkwardly. "Ugh...It's still kinda scary when he does that!"

"The plan might be better if we actually try and pick off a few of the flunkies first. If we can lure a few of them away and get them stomped down quickly before the others in the pack start to swarm us, then we can whittle them down enough to not be as much of a threat when we try to storm the building for Sindramon and this Surd fellow," Elsea advised.

"That does seem a reasonable course of action," Kwame said. "We might be able to provide distractions to get them separated at safer distances for you all to attack."

"And I can provide a big one," Race came up. "If you'll let me...I'll be the bait for Surd." He turned to Captain Planet. "Mr. Planet here can make like he caught me and drag me to Surd. Once he's off his guard, we can jump 'im."

"Race..." Jonny didn't finish. He simply gave Race an angered stare.

"Hey, I made it though all this, didn't I? Give me some credit," Race said with an innocent smirk.

"He's right," a voice came from behind the group. They turned.

"Stop trying to get yourself killed!" Jessie Bannon said accusingly to her father as she stood, hands clenched at her sides.

"Jessie!" Race said, sounding a bit startled.

"If these guys wanna take on Surd and his monsters, you should let them! They've got monsters too, and magic powers! Why do you keep wanting to go out there and act like you can save the world yourself? Stop trying to protect me all the time! You don't need to prove anything to me!" She stomped up to him, holding back her tears.

"Jess..." Jonny said softly.

"Jessie...I..." Race started, putting his hands on his daughter's shoulders, "It's not like that."

"Then what_ is _it like, dad? Let me and Jonny come with you, then. Surd wants us as much as he does you," Jessie said, still giving Race the stare down of his life.

Jonny was quick to agree with her. "Yeah, Race. Let us help out, too, huh? We've always fought Surd and his goons together, as a team!"

Race put his arm around Jessie while he turned to Jonny. "Yeah, well, Jonny...back then Surd's goons weren't a pack of fire-breathin' monsters from a tripped-out cyberspace world. And Surd was still just a crippled madman in a fancy mobile wheelchair. We're not in Questworld this time. We can't just pull the plug when somethin' gets outta hand. This is pretty big, y'know."

"That's why we want to part of it," Jessie said firmly. "I was the one who put Surd out of commission, and he logically wants revenge on me. I'd think I'd be a much better decoy than you."

Race gave a sigh. "Well, since we both did a number on 'im in the past...I know he sure wants to get at both of us badly enough. And I guess two birds caught in the fence'd lure a starvin' cat quicker than one."

"Ah, ah. Make that three birds!" Jonny came up and put his arms around both of them.

Race opened his mouth and was about to speak but Jonny cut him off.

"AH...I think I know what's coming. "Fur on a catfish," right?" he said smirking, with his finger in the air.

Race closed his mouth, eyebrow raised. "Guess I gotta get a new catch phrase one day," he muttered.

"So then do we have our course of action, now?" Elsea asked the group.

"Seems like it, so far," Josh responded with a thumbs up.

"Okay, guys! We just have to figure out who's doing what where, and then head out," said Gi.

"Ve are being decoys," Linka repeated.

"I say we go pick off Blight, Skumm, and Plunder first," Wheeler said, looking confident. "Creeps we deal with on a regular basis we know how to deal with easier than the Digimon things they're hangin' around with."

"Yeah. It'd be easy if they were just by themselves. Humans are a lot easier to beat down than Digimon. Maybe we can get them away from their Digimon or maybe take away their Digivices," said Lisa.

"Yeah...what happens when you break a Digivice?" Takato asked Elsea.

"Data loss, of course. Basically the Digimon is reverted back to a Digi Egg and sent to the Digital World until it can be respawned again. Well, at least for the X-Digivices we're familiar with. I suppose the ones they have could also explode or something."

Takato looked shocked.

Elsea looked sheepish and waved her hand at him. "Well, I was kinda joking about that! I don't think they'd really explode."

"You dunno. They coulda put bombs in 'em!" Reina joked back with a smirk.

Terriormon had come up and jumped onto Henry's shoulders once again. "Boy, you tamers are sure a whole lot different than ours. Same goes for the other Digimon."

"I guess there's many multiple types of Digimon that come from different Digital dimensions...and varying sets of tamers and Digivices," Elsea said with interest. "Maybe one day, I'll try and research them all and find out!"

"So if we can manage to bust their Digivice things, kaput goes their monster?" Race repeated. Elsea gave him a nod. "All right...sounds good so far."

Wheeler checked the laptop screen displaying the dots indicating enemies. "Okay then. We'll take out the three Eco-villain dweebs first! We'll distract 'em and you guys come in for the finish. Then we all go after the masterless monsters that were terrorizin' the city by themselves...especially that freakin' metal werewolf."

Everyone was in agreement with the plans being set up.

"You gonna stay here and monitor for us, Hadj, or you wanna come with?" Jonny asked him.

"If it is no problem, I would like to stay and maintain watch here. I do not believe it would be wise to leave the area unmonitored in case something happens and a new course of action must be taken. As the saying goes, keep friends close but enemies much closer," Hadji said with a nod.

"Got it. You're our sky spy, Hadj!" Jonny gave him a thumbs up.

"Captain Planet," Kwame began, "You must lie low so as not to be seen helping us for the time being."

Planet nodded. "Right. Maybe I should just chase the other decoys around for a while?" He looked at Race, Jessie, and Jonny.

"We could take that little yellow ship and fly around the city for a while. At least until Surd needs to get wind of us," Race suggested.

"Okay," Gi said. "You guys take the Geo Cruiser and go around the edge of the city and keep watch. Captain Planet will keep up like he's still infected with the mind control and chase you around and eventually 'catch' you. We'll all take the Grand Geo Cruiser and head out to draw the Eco-villain's attention away from anyone else."

"And then we pop out and beat 'em down, one by one!" Josh spouted enthusiastically, balling his fists and putting them up like he was ready to box.

"Yeah!" several of the rest of the tamer group shouted in unison.

"And then we find out what's going on in that building and take out Surd!" Jonny finished.

"Once and for all!" Jessie added. "I never wanna see a trace of him ever again!"

"This dude must be one hell of a creep-o," Reina mused.

"Hopefully this virus-spewing 'Sindramon' thing isn't too bad, either," added Henry. "I kinda wanna retire from Digimon battling..."

Terriormon looked shocked. "Henry! You really mean that? But if you retire, I'll get all out of shape."

Henry laughed.

"You don't want to retire, do you Takato?" Guilmon asked, poking his nose under Takato's arm and forcing a hug.

Takato turned to his partner. "No, Guilmon. Ha! I promise I won't ever retire."

Guilmon closed his eyes and smiled happily.

"All right, you guys...let's get moving!" Reina clapped her hands. "We've got a city to save!"

"WOO! Team Tamers!" Josh yelled, hands in the air, being stupid.

"Ugh. I'm gonna sleep for a whole month after this," Lisa said groggily. "And I am so NOT going on another field trip ever again for as long as I live."

"Aww. Not even to Mitsuwa?" Reina leaned over her shoulder and asked.

"NO!" Lisa hastily confirmed with a grimace. "I think you'll be lucky if you even see me in school anymore after this."

The sun was starting to go down.


	10. Chapter 10: Fusion Initiated!

A Digital Nightmare

**Chapter 10**

"All right, guys," Wheeler said, "Let's rock!"

He looked out the window of the Grand Geo Cruiser at the streets below. They had signs of severe damage all through them as well as the surrounding buildings, many of which had been nearly destroyed. There was an obvious trail leading straight to where the villains Dr. Blight and Verminous were lurking.

The Grand Geo Cruiser flew steadily overhead as Gi piloted, making sure to just skim over the villains to get their attention.

"Okay, you guys! Time to distract," said Gi.

Wheeler and Linka leaned out the partially open windows and aimed their rings.

"Vind!"

"Fire!"

The two bursts of power combined and twisted. A flaming tornado shot down toward the Eco-Villains. One of Skumm's nearby hench-rats saw, and sent out a panicked alert.

"Mr. Skumm! Mr. Skumm! We're under attack!" the rat man yelled and took cover behind a piece of wrecked building wall. Several other of Skumm's rat hybrid lackeys scattered off screaming as the fire tornado hit the ground close by.

"Damn, the Planet brats are still alive!" Skumm growled as he saw the ship.

"Not for long they won't be. Sazumon!" Blight shouted and raised her Digivice, pressing a button.

Sazumon gave a snort of anger as he turned and swung his axe around. He held the axe up high overhead and then swung it through the air. A blade of light flashed and went flying toward the Grand Geo Cruiser.

"GUILOTEEN HAMMER!" the beast growled.

Inside the Grand Geo Cruiser, Wheeler gasped at seeing the attack incoming.

"Gi!" he shouted.

"I know, I'm dodging!" Gi yelled back, jerking the steering wheel hard to the right.

The Cruiser swerved just in time and the light blade flew past and sliced a large chunk of a nearby building's corner off.

"That vas too close!" Linka exclaimed. "These Digimon creatures are really powerful."

"That is why we must get those devices that control them away from Blight and Skumm as soon as possible," said Kwame, looking determined. He pointed his ring down. "Earth!"

A ripple of the ground formed and a huge mount of dirt and rock burst up from the split pavement, sending the Digimon off balance. Blight stomped her high-heeled boot clad foot.

"You annoying brats!" she yelled up at them. "Just wait. We're gonna make you wish you were never born, ya little planet pests."

Skumm was standing with arms folded, on top of a pile of rubble as his hench-rats fled the area. He sighed.

"It's so hard to find decent help these days," he muttered and then shrugged. "Oh well. Good thing I've got this!" he said with a vile smirk and pulled his X-Digivice from his pocket. "Bizarromon...give the meddling kids a taste of your Venom Breath!"

The odd shadow that had been lying on the rubble pile near Skumm's feet suddenly rose up, twisting into squirming black tendrils. Within seconds, the form of Skumm's menacing Digimon took place, this time in full view. The disturbing creature seemed to be made of rotting flesh and blade-like bones. It appeared very much like a beast from a 1980s era B-horror film. It raised its head, razor-sharp fanged mouth open, and a forceful spray of putrid green liquid came from it and hit the front of the Grand Geo Cruiser.

"We're hit!" Wheeler yelled as he stared helplessly at the hole burning through the ship as the acid-like foul smelling spray melted it at a rapid rate.

The Grand Geo Cruiser began to shudder and sway in the air and Gi started losing control as the system malfunctioned+.

"Oh no! I can't keep it up, the controls are too damaged! It's eating right through everything!" Gi yelled in panic.

"We are going down!" Ma Ti cried, holding on to the seat in front of him.

"Bail out!" Wheeler yelled, grabbing onto Linka as the ship dropped lower toward the buildings in front of them.

Skumm laughed sadistically as he watched the ship going down.

"Now that's how to do it," he said as Blight looked on with a pout. Bizarromon hissed and lashed its tail back and forth.

"Oooooooh, we're gonna crash before we can bail!" Wheeler yelled as he slid into Kwame and Ma Ti fell over their legs.

Suddenly the ship stopped with a loud thunking noise and everybody went flying into the back wall with an 'oof'.

"Vhat happened? Ve are not dead?" Linka asked, looking around and trying to get the hair out of her eyes.

"Look!" Ma Ti cried and pointed out the front wind shield with a smile.

What appeared to be a larger, slightly more humanoid and armor covered version of Solardramon was standing there holding the ship safely in his massive muscular arms.

"Looks like you guys could use some help here! Good thing we showed up just in time," the Digimon's voice boomed and he set the ship down gently.

The Planet Warriors ran out of it to safer ground and saw Josh and Reina coming through a portal Gaia had made for them. Josh waved.

"Hey guys! Whew, that was close," Josh said, smiling. "Good job, War Solardramon!"

War Solardramon gave a salute. He turned back toward the enemies with a glare and looked ready to fight.

"It seems our diversion is no longer going to work out as we had planned," Kwame said with a worried look.

"No sweat," Reina said, "Gaia used some of her energy to send simultaneous portals for us to each of the enemy hot spots. So hopefully we can take 'em down at the same time anyway, before they have any chance of ganging up on us."

"I certainly hope so," responded Kwame backing up as Skumm, Blight, and their twisted Digimon approached.

"You little brats have been thorns in our sides for long enough," Blight said angrily. "And now that your precious Captain Planet isn't here to pull your imitation bacon out of the fire, we're gonna pound you into the dirt where you belong."

Her Digmon gave a snorting growl and raised up his axe.

"After we rip your little friends from out of town here to pieces," Skumm added locking his yellow eyes on the enemy Digimon and teens.

Josh thrust out a finger at him. "We'll see who rips who apart first, you giant rat-faced freak," he said.

Skumm sneered. "At least I'm not a greasy haired, acne faced little teenager," he taunted with a follow up hissing snicker.

Josh narrowed his eyes. "At least I don't have a nasty rat tail sticking outta my ass."

Blight giggled, unable to help herself. "Well, he's got you there, Skummy."

"Hey, screw you both. I like my tail!" Skumm responded, his long tail lashing around gently. "Enough wise cracking. Bizarromon...Kill these kids already!" he ordered with a wave of his clawed hand.

Bizarromon gave another sickly hiss and lunged toward the duo of teens.

War Solardramon growled and pulled a sword from a sheath on his back. He swung it and made a scorching line of fire that made the evil Digimon change its path with another loud hiss.

"Take this, you fiends! Flare Storm!" War Solardramon shouted and his sword glowed bright. He swung it and it produced several huge fireballs which went flying out at the enemy group.

"_SONIC PULSE CANNON!"_

Sazumon spat the blue beam of energy from his mouth and his and War Solardramon's attacks hit one another forming a giant explosion that sent both groups scattering backward. The Planet teens rushed off farther away toward some ruined buildings.

Reina ran through the smoke, charging at Dr. Blight as she waved her hand and coughed, unable to see momentarily.

"Yaaaah!" Reina yelled as she smacked into Blight as hard as she could and sent her flying off balance.

"Aaaah! Brat!" Blight yelled as she stumbled over some broken concrete slabs and fell into the dust and dirt.

"Oh my. Are you all right, Doctor?" MAL asked as his face came onto her Digivice screen.

Blight growled as she got back up and dusted herself off quickly.

"Never mind that! MAL! Initiate a shield program!" she commanded.

"Yes, Doctor Blight," MAL responded and his face was replaced by a program sequence loading up.

Blight turned to Reina with an evil smile. "So where's _your _little monster partner pet at, girlie?" she asked.

"Right behind you," responded Reina with a cocky look.

Blight gasped softly and turned her head fast. A shadowy form manifested before her.

The Digimon was around six feet tall and humanoid, dressed very much like a ninja. His suit was composed of red, gray, and black material, as well as silvery armor plating along the shoulders, arms, and shins. A black mask covered the bottom of his face which trailed off into a long scarf that waved behind him in the wind. One green eye was visible from beneath the spiky mane of hair that covered his head. He brandished four very long claws on his gauntleted hands as well as two that protruded from both his feet.

The creature placed his hands together and bowed before moving like a shadowy blur and kicking a foot out at Blight. The kick was deflected by a flash of light, however.

"Damn," Reina muttered. She saw Sazumon preparing another attack, this time taking his axe and getting ready to swing at her Digimon. "Tenchumon, watch it!"

Tenchumon vanished in the same shadowy blur he had appeared in. He reappeared next to his tamer.

War Solardramon gave a roar as his sword was blocked by the flash of energy that was protecting Skumm, Blight, and their Digimon.

"Crap, they've got barrier programs! Dirty cheaters," Josh growled.

"They're bad guys. What did you expect 'em to do, play fair?" Reina said sarcastically as she stepped back. "All the more reason to knock those Digivices outta their hands, and fast. We can't last too long without draining ourselves here!" She gave a quick glance down at her Digivice.

"Crush these twerps, Sazumon!" Blight commanded her Digimon.

Sazumon snorted and swung his axe again at Reina and Josh.

"GUILLOTEEN HAMMER!" he roared.

War Solardramon jumped in front of them and deflected the attack with his sword before throwing back another Flare Storm just to keep the enemies at bay.

"Josh. I think we're gonna need more power," War Solardramon said while giving an irritated look at Skumm and Blight.

Josh stared down at his X-Digivice.

"I know," he muttered angrily. "Even on Infinity, these 'Chaos' scumbags are still equal to our level."

"Josh...be careful. The more time we waste here, the less power we got to fight with!" Reina reminded with another glance to her Digivice screen. There was a small status bar on it showing a kind of charge time.

"Let's do this," Josh said and raised his Digivice.

Reina did the same. Tenchumon and War Solardramon stood looking determined as they began to glow.

Josh and Reina thrust out their X-Digivices and shouted, " X-Fusion, EVOLUTION!"

They vanished in a wavering digital light much like holograms turning off and two beams of colored energy shot up and toward the glowing Digimon.

Inside a computerized Digital realm, Josh and Reina both appeared dressed in skin tight battle suits of black with gold trim. What looked like many different glowing wires of pure energy came out from the darkness and attached to their bodies all over. Two screens appeared in front of them showing the scene below where they had previously been.

War Solardramon and Tenchumon appeared in a flash of light, their bodies still glowing. They both stretched out their arms and legs and their bodies began dissolving into threads of data.

"War Solardramon..."

"Tenchumon..."

The two Digimon spoke together, their voices combining into one.

"X-Fuse Digivolve to..."

The two Digimon forms vanished completely into a glowing larger silhouette. A huge body formed, and the figure of a new Digmon took shape rapidly. The Digimon was humanoid and covered from head to toe in heavy gold and red battle armor like that of a samurai warrior. The armored covered it almost completely and a matching mask obscured everything but its yellow eyes. White hair stuck out from its head and hung down its back several feet in a huge ponytail. The Digimon had four arms, each covered in gold armor and black leather, and each clawed hand gripping onto a huge gold Japanese style sword. A large red and black lizard-like tail stretched out in back of the Digimon, and the tip of the tail was made of blazing flames. Two sets of wings protruded from the creature's back, with one set being black with gold ornate trim and the other red with white trim much the same. Around its waist, it wore a large purple sash.

The Digimon struck a battle ready pose with swords raised as it shouted its name in a deep voice.

"Bladedramon!"

In a bright flash, the glow of energy that had been the two Digimon began to fade, leaving Bladedramon standing there in the street in front of Skumm and Blight.

The two teens felt the rush of energy surging through them as the screens in front of them showed the streets below, as if they were seeing it through Bladedramon's eyes.

"Let's go!" Josh shouted.

"Yeah!" Reina joined in.

"Take this!"

They both spoke at the same time as their bodies and minds moved as one, along with Bladedramon's.

Bladedramon lashed out with his two right swords and sliced through the air at Sazumon and Bizarromon. The shields of energy they had been using shattered instantly and the attacks struck them. They went flying backwards into piles of rubble.

"Uh oh!" Skumm said nervously as he jumped down from his spot and ventured for safer territory. "Surd never told us the punks could do that, too!"

"Damn it, we'll have to do the same thing now or we're done for!" Blight shouted to him.

"We should've practiced this crap more," complained Skumm while looking aggravated.

"Shut up, just do it!" Blight ordered. "We can perfect it later, _after _we finish off these eco-freak helpers off."

"X-Fusion, evolution!" both Skumm and Blight shouted, holding their Digivices out.

They vanished in the same way as Josh and Reina had and Sazumon and Bizarromon glowed before reforming into a hulking silhouette. When the red glow faded away it left a sinister looking Digimon floating several feet off the ground in front of Bladedramon.

"Plaguemon..." hissed the newly formed Digimon in a whispering voice like a cold wind blowing through a graveyard.

The Digimon's appearance was matching enough as well. Its head was that of a bleached white animal skull with three thin blades decorating it. The eye sockets were empty black, as well as the mouth. Red designs marked the skull around the eye sockets. A thick yellow necklace was around its undeniable neck area, decorated with smaller humanoid skulls. The body of the beast was not visible, hidden under a huge tattered black robe. Only the arms were visible, bone white and thin, with very large skeletal hands tipped with gold knife-like claws. A black and green snake-like tail was the only other thing visible trailing behind the form of the body. The Digimon held a large scythe in its clawed hands. The overall appearance of the beast gave it a distinct and fitting Grim Reaper look.

From their positions in the distance and further from danger, the Planet Warriors looked on as the two huge Digimon creatures faced each other down.

"Oh my! This is not good," Kwame said with worry. "Skumm and Blight have turned into one of the Digimon creatures the same way as Josh and Reina did."

"Oh man. How the heck are we supposed to smash their Digivices now?" Wheeler complained with his hands to his head.

Suddenly Plaguemon attacked with a burst of black energy and flung Bladedramon back into a building.

Ma Ti held his ring and attempted to communicate with Reina and Josh.

"My friends..." Ma Ti began," Are you all right?"

Reina and Josh both heard Ma Ti as they shook off the attack.

"Yeah, we hear you, Ma Ti! We're fine," responded Reina.

"Skumm and Blight have disappeared and been replaced by that horrible beast," Ma Ti said, "How are any of us going to remove their control devices now?"

"Yeah, this is gonna be a lot tougher now that those creeps can even X-Fuse," Josh admitted.

"Looks like we're just gonna have to give them a good old fashioned beat down," said Reina. "Once we weaken 'em, it should be all good. They can't stay on Fusion forever!"

"But neither can we..." Josh reminded. "Good thing we got backup!"

"We will be ready to help any way we can," Ma Ti said with a nod.

Bladedramon jumped back to his huge feet and charged back toward Plaguemon.

"Such a coward. Attack me when I'm not prepared? Ha!" he boomed and swung his swords in a blindingly fast speed. "Hyaaaah!"

Plaguemon was hit by dozens of invisible cuts which sliced some of his robe but he vanished in a puff of black smog.

"Uh oh," said Reina as she looked around quickly.

Plaguemon appeared behind Bladedramon and opened its bony mouth. A red mist came pouring out which turned Bladedramon's armor rusty in the spots that it touched.

"Reaper's Breath!" Plaguemon whispered.

Bladedramon jumped back and gave a grunt of disgust.

"Such bad manners. Now look, you've made my armor all tarnished," he said casually.

He raised his arms up and a bright flash enveloped him, after which it had dissipated, his armor was back to normal.

"Whoa," Josh said, "that attack would've melted a lower level fighter. Damn! This guy's one heck of a creep."

"Two little creeps turned into one big one," added Reina. "Let kick this up a few notches!" she shouted and swung her arm out.

Bladedramon jumped into the air and began to spin with his swords out at his sides. He formed a whirling blade tornado and flew at Plaguemon.

_"Kaimatachi Whirlwind!"_

"Reaper's Brea-" Plaguemon began but Bladedramon hit it and it shrieked in pain and went flying.

Inside their other dimension but still directly connected with Plaguemon, Skumm and Blight yelled out as well as they felt searing pain in their bodies from the attack.

"Arg! Those Digimonster piloting kids know how to fight better than we do," Skumm complained from his spot next to Blight.

"Damn it! Okay, so we should have practiced more instead of wasting time running around blowing up half the city..." Blight admitted with a wince. "But who cares if they can? We've still got our pack of trump cards," she said and another computer screen appeared off to her side, displaying MAL's face on it.

"Might I be of assistance, Doctor Blight?" asked MAL.

"Yes! MAL, initiate power boost, speed boost, defense boost, and any other boost program you have lying around in there," she ordered. "We can't beat them fairly, so we won't bother to! Hahahaha!" she cackled as MAL's face went to a smaller window of the screen and several sets of programs began loading up.

Plaguemon's body began to glow as Bladedramon did another whirlwind attack and lunged.

_"Kaimatachi Whirlwind!"_ he yelled.

This time when he hit, he simply bounced off as a large black shield of energy formed in front of Plaguemon. The shield had a skull design in the center of it.

"What?" Bladedramon gasped as he stopped spinning and landed on the ground in a battle ready stance.

Plaguemon swung the scythe and a huge blast of dark energy sent Bladedramon flying like a plastic bag caught in the wind.

"Uaaaaaaaaaaah!" the Digimon yelled.

Inside, Reina and Josh did much the same.

Skumm laughed sadistically. "We should've done this in the first place," he said with a large fanged grin as he watched the enemy Digimon go crashing into a building.

Bladedramon groaned as he tried to get back up from his spot in the rubble. A hole was in the side of the building where he had been thrown through. He got to one knee and rubbed his armor plated temple.

"Where did that come from? Those guys shouldn't have been that powerful," he muttered.

"Ugh," Reina groaned, "What the heck happened?"

"Bladedramon's right!" Josh grunted," there's no way in hell those guys should have been able to do something like that. I'd say they're cheating again!" He sat back up and rubbed his aching head. "I'll bet they're using those damn accessory programs again to give themselves boosted abilities. Shit!"

Reina narrowed her eyes and grit her teeth. "Well then, we'll just have to even the odds!" She closed her eyes and concentrated until she felt Ma Ti's presence outside. "Ma Ti?"

Ma Ti, who had been still watching the fight with the others, answered back quickly.

"Reina! Josh!"

"Ma Ti," Reina began, "Blight and Skumm are cheating somehow. We're gonna need help to win this!"

"Yes, I felt the enemy Digimon's evil aura as it suddenly got much stronger. It appears that Dr. Blight is using her computer, MAL, to power it up to be far stronger than it should be," said Ma Ti.

"Oh no, look!" cried Linka as she pointed toward the fight.

Plaguemon was headed toward Bladedramon while making a swirling ball of smoke-like glowing energy in its clawed hands.

_"DANCE OF DEATH," _the vile Digimon shouted as it released the ball.

"Aaaah!" Reina and Josh screamed seeing the ball approaching. Bladedramon gasped and held his swords out in front of him in hopes that they could survive the attack by deflecting some of it.

"Earth!" Kwame's voice shouted from a distance.

A huge wall of ground shot up from the broken pavement and formed a large barrier in front of Bladedramon before the attack hit. The ball of deadly smoke-like energy hit the wall of dirt and rock, eating through it with a loud acidic hiss. It was stopped before it could hit Bladedramon and do any damage.

Kwame stood in the street with the rest of the Planet Warriors lining up beside him.

"Hang in there, my friends!" he shouted.

"Water!" shouted Gi, aiming her ring at a nearby fire hydrant.

Water shot out from the hydrant and right into the skullish face of Plaguemon. Plaguemon growled and floated backward while waving its claws around blindly.

"Fire!"

A blast of flames shot up from underneath the Digimon and set it ablaze for a moment as Wheeler ran past.

"Aaaah!" Blight screamed from within the other dimension, batting her hands at invisible flames. "The planet brats are interfering!"

Skumm gave a yelp of pain. "Curse that Captain Planet! Even as a mindless mutant monster, he still couldn't do his job right and get the little pukes off our backs. And it would've really come in handy this time," he whined.

"Vind!" yelled Linka as she ran past the Reaper-like Digimon while it was busy patting out the lingering flames on its robe.

Plaguemon gave a hissing shriek as it was flung into a building wall by the giant gale.

"Now!" Josh yelled and thrust his arms out.

Bladedramon rushed forward and swiped at Plaguemon, knocking the evil Chaos Digimon into the air. He jumped up high above him and unleashed his most powerful attack.

Bladedramon appeared flying past clouds and blue sky until he was almost up in the outer atmosphere. He paused there and held out his arms, swords raised. Several more sets of arms appeared until he had ten arms all together, each with a different, ornate, and powerful looking swords appearing in his hands. He quickly threw down the swords toward the ground and they all began to glow with white hot fury as they zoomed toward their target.

_"BLADES OF DIVINE JUSTICE!"_

Bladedramon's voice echoed all the way to the ground below.

Plaguemon was frozen in mid air helplessly and the swords came slamming down into it one by one, rapidly.

"Aaaaaaaaaah!" Skumm and Blight screamed as Plaguemon hissed and shrieked.

The beast's body glowed red momentarily before it split apart into chunks of scattering black data. The flurries of data spun in a little tornado. Skumm and Blight also reappeared and fell to their knees on the pavement, looking dazed. Each of their Digivices fell to the ground beside them and glowed as they took in separate streams of data containing their original Chaos Digimon.

Bladedramon came back down with a loud thud that trembled the ground around him. He raised up his swords triumphantly before his body glowed white and his form vanished, leaving Reina, Josh, and two baby level Digimon behind.

"Uuuuh," Blight groaned and struggled back to her feet. "What? Wha...We lost?" she gasped upon looking around.

"I knew I never should've agree to this," Skumm complained while clutching his aching head. He opened his eyes and saw a sneaker step onto the pavement in front of him. "Uh oh," he said as he looked up to see Wheeler looming there.

"Now that's showin' 'em who's boss! Fire!" Wheeler said with a smirk as he shot fire at Skumm's X-Digivice and burned it to a crisp.

"Aaah!" Skumm gasped as he scrambled back to his feet, his uniform returning to original. "You arsonist little punk! You broke my new toy," he growled as he stared down at the smoldering device.

"And now I'm gonna break you, Skumm!" Wheeler yelled with his fists raised.

Skumm backed away with his claws out. "Eh, I think I've had enough mayhem for one day, actually," he said and scampered off toward the nearest sewer manhole.

"Hey, get back here, Skumm!" Wheeler yelled and started to give chase but it was too late.

Skumm's hench rats opened the manhole for him and vanished inside, with Skumm sticking his head through to give Wheeler one final taunt for the day.

"Oh, don't worry planet punk. I'll be back. When you least expect it, I'll be back." He laughed wickedly before vanishing into the darkness of the sewers and sliding the manhole back into place.

Dr. Blight was currently being cornered by the rest of the Planeteer teens while Ma Ti checked on Josh and Reina.

"My friends! Are you okay? That was quite a fight," he said happily after making sure Reina and Josh were unharmed.

"Yeah," Josh panted, "That was about the most intense fight I've ever had as a tamer!"

"I'll say," Reina agreed. Sweat was dripping down her face. "Good thing we've trained on Infinity and Fusion levels as much as we have."

Her gray baby level Digimon jumped into her arms. It had black marking around its eyes and a curly dog-like tail.

"Nin Nin!" it cried happily in a small boy's voice. "We won the battle!"

"We sure did, Ninmon! Great job!" responded Reina with a smile.

"Yeah, great jobs all around, you guys," congratulated Josh as he pet the top of his red Digimon's snout. "Thanks, Flaremon."

"No problem, Josh!" Flaremon responded in a voice much like Guilmon's only deeper. His baby form looked much like a diminutive version of Solardramon with stubbier arms and chubby shorter legs.

"Stay back, I'm warning you!" Blight threatened as she backed up to the wall more. "I still have this!" She held up the X-Digivice.

MAL's face appeared on the screen.

"Doctor, I don't think that's such a good idea..." he began.

Suddenly Ninmon, quick as a flash, bounced up over her shoulder and grabbed the X-Digivice out of her hands.

"Aaaah!" Blight yelped, staring with a horrified look at her empty hand.

Ninmon landed on the ground a few feet away and spit out the device at Flaremon's feet.

"Noooooo!" MAL wailed helplessly as he saw what was coming next.

Flaremon stomped down on the Digivice and crushed it then spat out a burst of flames over the shattered pieces just to make sure the job was done.

"And now, you don't," Wheeler said with folded arms and a giant smug smile.

Dr. Blight clenched her fists and shook them into the air with an enraged squeal as her briefly acquired new powers and uniform faded away, leaving her with her old outfit and no way of currently defending herself.

"Damn you, you little brats! One day, I swear I'll get even with you all, and your little freak friends!" she yelled as she turned and ran as fast as she could to find refuge and a place to reboot MAL at.

"All right!" Gi cheered. "Two down, one to go!"

"Two to go, actually," Josh said. "Plunder's still got Ardusmon."

"If we're being technical here, it's a _lot _more to go, seeing as how all the henchcreep's this Surd guy and Sindramon have got themselves," Reina said.

"Let us hope the other's are doing as fortunate against the enemy as we did here," Kwame said.

"But we should probably try to get over there to see if they're gonna need help," said Josh in a slightly worried tone. Elsea and Lisa were the ones fighting Plunder.

"Gaia can't keep opening portals through the city, forever, though," said Gi. "Too bad the Grand Geo Cruiser is out of commission."

"And ugh..." Reina began as she clutched her side, "We kinda are, too."

Josh grimaced in brief pain and looked at Flaremon. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Damn. Once we go Infinity, or even worse, X-Fuse...we're pretty much powerless until we charge back up."

"And that can take a while," added Reina looking almost exhausted.

"I hope all the others are all right," said Ma Ti as he looked up at the darkening sky.


End file.
